


Peace and Quiet

by ThatOneBrokenWindow



Series: The next summer [1]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe - Future, Eventual Fluff, Horror Elements, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Mental Health Issues, Sad Dipper Pines, Slow Burn, Suicide Attempt, Supernatural Elements, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-17 19:26:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 24,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29476944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatOneBrokenWindow/pseuds/ThatOneBrokenWindow
Summary: 8 years after the events of Gravity Falls, Dipper Pines returns to the Mystery Shack for a little peace and quiet. Mabel's in Europe, Soos is in New York, and Dipper's looking for another summer in the small town that meant so much to him. He reconnects with the friends he made when he was 12, and tries to grapple with his mental health and his own traumatic experiences while dealing with supernatural entities that are still lurking in the shadows of the forest.Trigger warnings for panic attacks, self harm, suicide attempt, and alcoholism.Hope you enjoy!
Relationships: Pacifica Northwest/Dipper Pines
Series: The next summer [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2200698
Comments: 14
Kudos: 56





	1. Chapter 1

The setting sun grazed the tips of the pine trees as I pulled into the dusty parking lot. The crisp scent of summer greeted me as I opened the car door, stepping out and staring up at the rickety building in front of me. The Mystery Shack hadn’t changed since the last time I saw it, despite the 8 years that have passed. 

I stood there for a moment, feeling the cool summer air of Oregon drift across my skin as I considered getting right back in my car and speeding out of here, not stopping until I crossed back into California. I couldn’t pinpoint my fear at returning to a place beloved during my adolescence and tried to shrug off my nostalgia. My sneakers, with a mind of their own, started trudging up the porch to the rough wooden door. A red sign hung inside the window with the word “closed” written across it in a flowing, white script. I could faintly hear birds chirping as I rested my hand on the doorknob and inserted the key Soos had given me the week before. After a pause, I slowly twisted my hand and with a click, the door opened with a creak.

***One month earlier***

“You want me to do what?” Boxes littered my apartment, and I sat on the floor eating pizza on a paper plate. My phone lay on the floor next to me on speaker, with the caller ID displaying Soos Ramirez.

“Just look after it for the summer, dude. Melody and I are going to visit some of her family in New York, and she thinks it will be nice to get a little change of scenery. I know you’re moving out of your apartment until you can find a new place, and it beats staying with your parents all summer.” Soos let out a small chuckle. “Trust me, I know.”

“Can’t you get Mabel to do it? I’m sure she’ll love to go back there.”

“Nah, already asked. She’s going on a trip to Europe or something with her girlfriend. Shouldn’t you know that?”

I sigh. “Yea, I think I remember that.”

“Plus… uh….” Soos paused, taking in a breath. “Mabel thought it would be good for you to get away. You know, after… what happened.”

“Ah.” I put the slice of pizza down on my plate, suddenly not very hungry anymore. “You heard about that?” I said hesitantly.

“Yea dude. I’m… sorry I wasn’t there.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

A silence took over, lasting so long I thought it could physically stretch the distance between us.

“How’s Melody doing?” I finally said, my voice sounding hollow and disinterested. But Soos didn’t seem to notice, because as soon as the words were out of my mouth he launched into a monologue about planning their trip to New York.

I felt bad about not paying attention, but my mind was wandering north: past the pine trees and the lakes and the water towers to a little town called Gravity Falls.

***Present***

I left most of my belongings at my parents house, allowing me to only make two trips from my car to the Mystery Shack. Just clothes and other toiletries, plus a bit of food that I can live off of until I found the time to make it into town. Not that time was going to be an issue.

At first, I thought I was going to stay in my Grunkle Stan's room. When the Shack was rebuilt at the end of my last summer here, a new guest bedroom was made that quickly became Soos’s room. It just felt too lived in for me; he was only gone for a summer, and it felt weird for me to sleep in there. Grunkle Stan has been on and off the grid with Grunkle Ford for the past 8 years, and I didn’t think he’s spent more than a week in his room since he left. 

Soos had only been gone for a week, but dust had already settled in the old house and swirled around me wherever I went. With every step I took, memories flooded my senses. Sights and sounds from a summer that seemed like forever ago came back to me in a flash. Days spent curled up pouring over my journal, watching tv with Grunkle Stan, doing odd jobs around the house with Soos, and messing around with Mabel and Wendy. I realized I had been standing still for five minutes, staring into space. I gave myself a wry smile that didn’t reach my eyes. I can’t believe my family thought that being in a secluded town alone with myself was a good idea. 

Overcome with nostalgia, I found myself moving past the doorway of Grunkle Stan's room and up to the attic. The creak of the wood under my weight resounded throughout the empty house. Twilight was approaching by the time I reached the top, the last glimmers of the sun fading through the triangular window. The two beds where Mabel and I slept on are still pushed to opposite corners of the wall, but the once spacious attic is cluttered with random supplies and attractions from the Mystery Shack. I stumbled past the mess and sat down on my old bed, hit with the certainty that this was the only place that was right for me to sleep in in this house. 

Two hours and three splinters later, the attic was organized and I was able to walk through the space without tripping. Feeling exhausted from my car ride and the manual labor, I stumbled out onto the ledge where Wendy and I used to relax. The stars were brighter here than they were in California. I laid down on my back and stared up at the sky, and I found my eyes gravitating towards the Big Dipper. I touched my hand to my forehead, feeling for the first time in 8 years totally at home.


	2. Chapter 2

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that this job is completely useless. I can’t believe that I hadn’t noticed it before, but now I felt tricked. Soos closed the Mystery Shack for the summer, despite this being the peak season for tourist traps. My job was just to live in it and keep up with some upkeep and repairs. I was sure that this was a scheme by my family to get me away from my day to day life and in a “better state of mind”. 

It was late morning and I was bored out of my head. I split my time between aimlessly pacing throughout the house and watching the news on the battered square tv in the living room. After a few hours, I decided it was time that I headed into town. There really wasn’t much more for me to do.

I put on a light flannel shirt and shorts and strode out of the door, locking it behind me. The maroon of my car glinted in the noonday sun as I pulled myself into the driver's seat. The car backed out of the driveway and sped it’s way down the long, dirt road that led into Gravity Falls.

On the ride in, I had avoided the town altogether. I didn’t feel prepared to drive back through it. As I got closer to Gravity Falls, I started to feel the familiar sense of anxiety drift over me like a blanket, restricting my breathing and making my skin buzz. I turned up the music and tried to lose myself in the beat, not focusing on the dread that laced my stomach.

***Seven years ago***

“WHAT!” Mabel’s voice ripped its way past my headphones and rattled my eardrums. I tore my eyes away from the book I was reading and lowered the headphones to my neck, standing up and walking towards the living room. My parents were sitting on the couch, hand in hand while staring concerned at my sister. Mabel was leering over them, pointing an accusatory finger while holding back tears.

“They said. We would be back. Next summer.” Her voice croaked as she stared daggers into our parents. “We need to go back.”

My mom looked at my dad, sighed, and said softly, “Your father and I don’t feel comfortable with you guys heading up there without any family members present. Your Great Uncle Stanley still hasn’t returned from his trip, and I know you have friends up there but-”

“You guys could come up there with us! Please!” 

“Your father will be working all summer, and I have a few trips I need to take.”

“That’s bullshit.” My voice surprised me with its harshness, and three pairs of eyes shot over in my direction. My dad coughed a little bit and said,

“Mason, you know what we’ve said about language.”

“Why are we just now hearing about this?” I said angrily. “You’ve let us think all spring we’re going back there, and now you just tell us this?”

“Well,” my mother's voice tentative and quiet, “We never actually said we were taking the trip… you guys just assumed we were.”

Mabel and I stood fuming in the living room. “Plus, this doesn’t mean your friends from Gravity Falls can’t visit you here!” My dad bargained. “We know how much those guys mean to you.”

Mabel seemed to slightly relax at this. I knew that Mabel would be happy almost anywhere as long as her friends were there, Gravity Falls or not. I guess that was one of the differences between us.

My mom stood up and walked across the room to me, folding me in her arms. I kept my body stiff, not returning the gesture. “I know you were looking forward to going, honey. Maybe next summer, we can go back. I promise.”

We never did.

***Present***

The diner is quiet when I walk in. My feet echoed around the restaurant whenever I took a step on the checkered floor. A couple sat in the corner booth, and a teenager who looked like she was about to fall asleep stood behind the counter with the diner uniform on. I made my way to a booth far away from the other couple and slid into the table while pulling out my phone. There isn’t any good cell reception in the Mystery Shack, so I guessed I’d have to run into town every time I need to talk to someone. After glancing at my screen, I saw that Mabel had texted me some pictures of her trip with the text “How’re you?” Her message was the only one I’d received recently. I haven’t heard from any of my college friends since the spring, and my parents rarely text. I sent back a quick “I’m okay. Don’t have good reception, though. I’ll call you later.”

A feminine voice pulled my eyes from my phone, and I looked up to see the teenager working at the diner standing next to my booth.

“Sorry, I didn’t catch that,” I said politely.

“Oh,” She smiled sheepishly, looking a lot more awake than a few seconds ago. “Can I get you anything?”

“Yea, some pancakes please.” I smiled back up at her. “And a coffee. Black.”

“Alrighty!” She moved as if to walk away, but turned back around. “I haven’t seen you around here before. Are you a tourist?” 

“Kind of. I’m looking after the Mystery Shack while my friend is away, so I guess I’ll be here for a little while.”

“Oh! I remember that place. I used to go there all the time as a kid!” 

I chuckled. “Yea, I spent a summer up here working there when I was a teenager. It was definitely an experience.”

She smiled, and her cheeks turned a faint red. “Well, if you ever get bored up in that house all alone, maybe we can hang out sometime.”

I nodded, not really knowing how to respond. “Yea… uh… that would be great.”

“Cool!” She strolled back behind the counter, glancing at me and smiling every few seconds. 

It’s not that I had never been asked out before, but I’m not exactly romantically active. Or sexually, for that matter. I’ve only had one real girlfriend, and that was late high school, and now I’m out of college. Not to mention that she looks like she’s younger than me. I guess there aren’t a lot of single college aged guys hanging out in Gravity Falls. It dawns on me that I never asked for her name.

The door opened with a ding, and I glanced up to see a shock of bright red hair and flannel striding towards me. Wendy plops down across from me in the booth as my face splits into a wide grin. 

“Hey Dip, it’s been awhile.”

I’d seen Wendy periodically over the course of the past eight years, but our relationship has waned recently. This was the first time I’d seen her in almost a year, and she’d changed a lot. Her once waist length hair was cut short and her hands were rough and strong from working at her family’s lumberjacking business. After I grabbed a bite to eat, Wendy and I walked around town for the rest of the day. I saw some familiar faces and new ones as we flitted from one side of Gravity Falls to the other. I forgot how much fun Wendy was, and her smirks and voice reminded me so much of the last summer I was here.

We made our way up to the water tower, where we sat on the edge and watched the sunset. The spray painted explosion Robbie at tagged years ago was faded and worn, and I didn’t think that the rickety metal would hold our weight.

“Come on, it’s fine. I come up here all the time.”

I rolled my eyes. “Why are you always pushing me into stuff that’s going to get me killed?”

“I seem to remember you getting yourself into those situations, and me having to save your ass.” 

I let out a small chuckle. “You may be right about that.”

I was able to wrench my body up without falling off, and we sat in silence for a bit, watching the town below us beginning to light up.

“How did you know I was going to be here today?” I finally asked.

“Mabel told me. She asked me to keep an eye on you.” She smirked a little bit. “Want some beer?” Wendy had lugged up a six pack, (god knows how), and was currently halfway into one.

“Ah… no, I don’t drink anymore.” I said quietly.

“Oh. Right.” The sky swirled with purple and orange, and I found my fingernails scratching my forearm over my flannel. I glanced at Wendy, who was staring at my arm with concern. “Listen, I’m sorry I wasn’t…”

“Everyone’s sorry they weren’t there. Such a goddamn shame no one actually was.” My head was suddenly flooded with rage. “I’m tired of everyone treating me like a bomb that’s about to go off. They get me to go back here, pretending they’re helping, when they’re all just trying to make sure they don’t get caught in the blast.” The birds in the trees nearby scatter with the sound of my voice. “I’m just so fucking sick of it.”

Wendy took a long sip of her beer, then tossed the empty can over the side of the water tower. “Come on. Let’s get you home.”

The drive home was sullen and quiet. Wendy insisted on riding back to the Mystery Shack with me, claiming that she hadn’t seen the tourist trap in so long, and she wanted to be there again with me. I know she was just making sure I made it home okay.

It was dark by the time the tires of my car slid to a stop in the dirt parking lot. Wendy and I sat down on the swing on the porch, staring at the looming pine trees next to the shack.

“Are you seeing anyone?” I asked, trying to clear the air.

“Nah. The last girl I dated broke up with me a month ago.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.” I paused. “A girl?”

She chuckles. “Yea, I date girls too, Dipper.”

I nodded silently. “Well, I’m pretty tired. I think I’m going to head up to bed soon.” I look at my car, just realizing that there was no way for Wendy to get back into town unless I drove her. Wendy seemed to realize this too, because she said “Hey, is it alright if I take the car back into town? I’ll let you sleep, and I’ll have it back to you before you wake up.”

I considered for a second, then agreed. “Alright.” I tossed her the keys.

As she walked across the grass, I glanced out into the forest. Something had caught my eye in the woods; a bit of movement. The moon gave off a surprising amount of light, so shadows of trees swept their way all across the Mystery Shack. But if I looked hard enough, I could make out two red circles staring back at me through the leaves.


	3. Chapter 3

“Hey Wendy, can you come here for a second?” My voice was a slightly higher pitch than it usually is, and my mind was racing through all of the creatures that dwell inside the forest. The devilish eyes disappeared and reappeared, as if the creature had blinked. Wendy noticed the change in my voice and rushed over.

“What’s wrong?” she said quietly.

I pointed to the eyes lurking in the shadows. “Am I imagining that?”

Wendy squinted into the night. “What the hell-”

I could make out a slow thump resounding throughout the area, and noticed the eyes slowly growing bigger. I started backing away, tripping over my shoes and falling onto my ass. The pebbles next to my feet jumped up and down with the magnitude of the creature’s footsteps.

“Get in the car,” I gasped, brushing off my hands and running towards the sedan. Wendy stood transfixed as the creature bounded towards us. “Wendy, get in the car!” Snapping out of her trance, she sprinted over to the passenger side of the car. I hopped into the driver's seat, thrusting the key into the ignition and twisting it with all of my strength. The engine sputtered and then started as the creature bounded out of the forest.

The hide of the monster was covered with fur, and the ridge of its back was lined with short spikes. The red eyes contrasted the dark brown hair on its face, and the bear-like mouth was full with teeth.

“Since when are the creatures in Gravity Falls antagonistic?” I rammed my car into gear and sped out of the parking lot and onto the street, dirt spraying up behind my back wheels. 

The monster let out a howl and gave pursuit, bounding after the car. It was gaining quickly, and I started panicking. “Shit. We can’t outrun this thing. Shit. What the hell is that goddamn…”

“Dipper! Calm down.” Wendy was breathless, but looked composed. “We just need to-”

A bang exploded through the forest as the air released out of one of my back wheels. The monster had gotten so close it was able to cut a gash into my right tire with a sharp claw positioned on its massive paw. We spun out; I struggled to gain control of the vehicle as we started to come to a stop. I felt another crunch as we ran off of the road and into a ditch, smoke pouring out from underneath the hood.

“Shit.” Wendy’s nose was bloody as she started to open up the door. 

“Glovebox,” I muttered. She nodded and reached a shaky arm to the brown glovebox. It opened with a thunk when she released the latch and looked inside. “Dipper…what the fuck?”

“Just take it.” I opened the car door and fell out on all fours, the rough rocks cutting into my palm. Nausea overcame me and I retched on the ground. The monster had stumbled after crashing our car, and was farther down the road. Its head whipped around and it started moving toward us; slower this time, as if it knew that it took away our speed. I heard another crunch as Wendy’s boots landed on the ground on the opposite side of the car.

“We need to run,” I heard her shout.

“We can’t lead it in town,” I responded.

She let out a stream of curses. I heard a few clicks as she fiddled with something in her hands and raised her arm.

Bang!

The first shot went wide. I rushed to Wendy’s side and saw her cock the gun, the chamber rotating so the next bullet was lined up with the barrel. 

Bang!

Bang!

The monster let out a roar as blood spurted from the bullet wounds, coating the fur with a dark red blanket. It began to charge towards us while Wendy emptied the gun, the last bullet entering the monster right between the eyes. Gunsmoke drifted through the air as the monster lay dying at our feet. It let out a pitiful moan as the life drained from its devilish eyes.

“I never saw that in the journals.” I sat down on the ground, far away from the corpse. “That’s the first time I saw any creature in the forest act like that.” I looked up at Wendy. “What about you?”

Wendy stared vacantly at the body and wiped her nose with her arm, leaving streaks of blood on her hand. “No.” 

She stumbled over to me and looked down at my head, eyes flashing in the dark. “Why did you have a gun in your car?”

Now it was my turn to stare vacantly into space.

“God,” she sighed.

We sat together in silence, leaning against the side of the car.

“You’re a good shot, though.” 

The pool of blood forming in the road reflected the moon and the stars, tinting the sky a deep red.

After about an hour, I took out my phone and checked it. “Goddamn cell reception.” Next to me, Wendy checked hers.

“I don’t have any reception either.”

I glanced at the battered car that we were leaning against. “Guess we’ll have to walk. No one’s coming to the Mystery Shack anyway, especially not during the night.” I looked over at Wendy. “In town or the shack?”

“In town,” she responded. “We don’t know if there are any more of those things hanging around there, and we aren’t prepared.” 

I nodded. Before we started walking, I took out my phone again and took some pictures of the dead monster on my phone. My curiosity got the better of me, and I felt the burning twinge of excitement that consumed me eight years ago. The thrill of discovering something no one has seen before, even if it did try to kill me. 

We began the long trek into town walking side by side down the road, our bloody shoes kicking up dirt as we stumbled in the dark. After a while, I heard the distant roar of a car engine. 

“Do you hear that?” I asked

“Who the hell is driving down this road?” We stopped and stared across the dust at the oncoming car. Headlights moved towards us slowly as a sleek white car drove down the road towards the Mystery Shack. I put my hand over my eyes to shield myself from the searing light of the vehicle. It was then I realized how suspicious Wendy and I looked; shirts splattered with bits of blood and a smoking gun held in her right hand.

“Shit, hide the gun,” I hissed. Wendy tucked the revolver in the back of her jeans as the car brakes screeched. The car skidded down the road past us, and the driver’s side door flew open with a crash. A shadowy figure fell out and ran up to us, concern written all over her face. I felt my heart skip a beat and then drop in my chest. 

“What happened to you guys?” yelled Pacifica Northwest.


	4. Chapter 4

Pacifica was staying in a bed and breakfast on the south side of town. It was quiet even though it wasn’t that late at night. We rushed up the stairs and into her room before anyone could get a good look at us, tracking dirt on to the red carpet that lines the whole building. Pacifica’s room is small, but cozy. It looked like it had been lived in for a couple days; her clothes were hanging up in the closet, and the bed was a little rumpled where she had been sleeping. The tan of the wall was complemented by generic pictures of hillsides and forests.

I was out of breath, and I felt an impending sense of panic set over me. It was a combination of the events with the monster and seeing Pacifica after all of these years. I started to feel like I was drowning. Adrenaline coursed through my veins.

“Never thought I’d see you living in a space like this,” I said shakily, trying to take my mind off of my anxiety.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She looks at me angrily. Wendy stood in the doorway, looking at our interaction with a smirk. “Now I drove you guys here, so you have to tell me what’s going on.”

“Is there a bathroom? I think I need to wash up.” I started to hear a roar in my ears, drowning out the noises around me.”

Pacifica gave me a withering glare, but pointed to a small door close to the entrance. “Thanks,” I muttered, and strode towards the door. As soon as the door closed behind me, I fell onto all fours, positioning my head over the toilet. The ceramic material was smooth against my hands as I retched over the bowl, trying to pull myself together. The light overhead was dim, but everything still felt too bright. I slid further onto the floor, resting my head against the tiled surface and trying to hold back tears.

***Three years ago***

“Dipper, don’t make this harder than it has to be.”

I was sitting in my brand new car in the driver's seat. We were pulled over on the side of the road. I was staring at the cars driving past, headlights and brake lights distorting through the windshield as I tried not to make eye contact with Stacy.

“I’m sorry, I really am. I like you, and I know you’re struggling, but I can’t do this anymore.”

She was sitting in the passenger seat, turned so that she was facing towards me. Her hands were folded in her lap, and her eyes were pleading with me to understand her. As if her pain was the problem.

“You never call or text. I’m always the one to initiate a conversation. You throw yourself into your course work and I don’t hear from you for weeks. You don’t talk about your feelings at all!” Her voice was becoming more exasperated, as if I was a child she was trying to explain something to. “And now with the alcohol…” Stacy sighs. “I just can’t anymore. I want to help… but I also want to be with someone who cares about me, and pays attention. Who’s open with me.”

She paused, still waiting for a response. I said nothing, but I put the car in gear and merged back onto the two lane road. I turned the radio on because I couldn’t bear the silence anymore, but she turned it back off after a few seconds. “Can’t you just say something?”

We arrived at her apartment. It was windy, and the trees outside were swaying to some rhythm I’d never seen before. I finally looked at Stacy, into those pleading eyes. “Goodbye, Stace. I’m sorry.” 

She looked concerned. “I’ll call you, okay? Don’t.... Do anything stupid.” She got out of the car, and after stealing one last glance at me, walked into her apartment complex.

She never called.

***Present***

I heard a knock on the bathroom door.

“Dipper? You okay?” Wendy’s worried voice clawed its way past the ocean in my ears and to my brain. 

“Yep.” I whispered. After a few seconds I realized she couldn’t hear me, and replied in a much louder voice “Yeah, I’m fine. Be out in a second.”

The water around my head began to subside, and I began to hear faint voices in Pacifica’s room. I made my way out of the bathroom after running the sink and splashing cold water onto my face. Pacifica and Wendy were sitting on the bed, talking in low voices. When I shakily walked in, I saw Pacifica looking at me with a concern in her eyes that wasn’t there before.

Well, so much for not talking about that.

“So, Wendy filled you in? On what happened tonight?” I asked, trying to avoid the subject. 

“Yea, she did.” She didn’t say anything else; just looked at me with those pitiful eyes.

“Can you stop looking at me like that? Please?” 

“Like what?” She broke the eye contact and stared down at her hands, folded in her lap. God, how much she reminded me of Stacy. Or maybe how much Stacy reminded me of her. “Listen, Dipper, I heard about this spring.” 

“I noticed.”

“Mabel said you were coming back to Gravity Falls for the summer, but she never said why. I’m… so sorry.” 

I nodded. “Thanks.” Seriously, what else am I supposed to say to that?

“Anyway…” Wendy says casually, “We still have a dead monster and crashed car lying in the middle of the road to the Mystery Shack. We also don’t know if it’s safe to go back there; that was the first creature that’s ever shown that much aggression to people outside of its territory before. I don’t know if something has changed, but we should probably figure it out before more people get hurt.”

“Right.” I nodded, grateful for the subject change. “So… What are we going to do about that?”

Wendy smiled mischievously. “I have some ideas.”


	5. Chapter 5

Apparently, Wendy’s “idea” was to load up on guns and go charging back to the Mystery Shack with our assorted weaponry, kicking monster’s asses along the way. She smiled as she pulled up to the bed and breakfast in her green pickup. The sun was just rising when she whipped off the tarp in the bed of her truck with a flourish, revealing a couple of shotguns, a rifle, and a handgun, all with cartons of extra ammunition.

“This definitely feels illegal,” I sighed, surveying the objects of destruction in front of me. My back was stiff from sleeping on the floor last night; not that I got much sleep.

“Says the dude without a concealed weapons permit who has a revolver lying around in his glove box,” Wendy retorted.

“Why did you even have the gun there in the first place?” Pacifica questioned, not-so-subtly glancing around to see if anyone is strolling by and happens to see our arsenal. 

“It doesn’t matter.” I ignored Pacifica’s concerned face and focused on Wendy. “Listen, we don’t know anything about what’s going on there. I agree we need to be prepared, but we shouldn’t go in there guns blazing.” I glanced down at the guns by my side. “We need to see what changed. What attacked us, and why.”

Wendy smirked. “Some people never change.” She tussled my hair playfully. “Want us to get you a new journal, so you can record all of your cool new discoveries?” she said sarcastically. I blushed. I was just wondering where I could write down the events that happened the night before: The behavior and appearance of the monster, along with some of the pictures I’d taken.

“Shut up.”

The morning sun blinded my eyes as we pulled out of the parking lot. I was sitting in the cramped backseat of the pickup truck, dropping bullets into the chamber of my revolver; a gun I prayed I’d never have to use. The white wood of the handle was smooth in my hand, and the silver metal matched the hue of Pacifica’s stud earring. Pacifica was the person in Gravity Falls that I had kept in touch with the least. We had seen each other only once after the summer I had spent in Oregon, and we never exchanged phone numbers. I knew she moved west at the end of the summer, after her parents lost the mansion. It occurred to me that I didn’t know what she was doing back in Gravity Falls.

“Hey Pacifica, what were you doing driving to the Mystery Shack last night?” I asked nonchalantly. 

“Oh, well… I heard that you were back in town, and I wanted to drive up and say hi,” she said sheepishly. 

“I’m not the only one who’s been gone for a while. What’re you doing back?” I was now focused on loading one of the shotguns, making sure to keep it low and out of view from the window. I guess this is a good time to say that I had never shot a gun in my life, and everything I knew about the mechanics had been learned from various action movies and books. I was not a violent person, and the idea of another confrontation with the beasts filled my stomach with dread. I planned on leaving the shooting up to Wendy if we ran into any more trouble.

While I was trying to figure out if the shotgun shells went into the gun through the bottom or the side, Pacifica sat in silence for a while before responding.

“Well… Mabel said that you were going to be here for the summer, and maybe it would be good for you and I to… reconnect.”

I looked up from the firearm dilemma and stared at the back of her head. “Reconnect?”

“Yea, reconnect.”

“She said that exactly? Reconnect?”

“Well,” Pacifica let out a nervous chuckle. “She didn’t say reconnect exactly, no. But that was the gist.”

“Well what did she say exact-”

“Jesus Christ Dipper, give it a rest.” Wendy’s voice cut through my own. “You sound like you’re twelve again.” 

I blushed and returned to focusing on my lap. 

We peeled out of town and made our way to the Mystery Shack, the truck’s massive wheel’s making imprints on the dirt behind us. After a few minutes, I found myself filled with confusion. I frantically looked through the windows, searching for my car and the monster corpse that we left behind; but to no avail.

“Uh, Wendy? Where’s my car? I think we should have passed it by now.” 

Wendy checked the side mirrors and squinted out the windshield. “It was dark. We probably didn’t get as far as we thought we would. Don’t worry, we’ll come up on it soon.” 

After a couple more minutes, the road widened and we found ourselves idling in the parking lot of the Mystery Shack. 

“Where the fuck did it go?” My voice sounded panicky, even to me.

“Calm down, we’ll find it.” But even Wendy’s voice had an unfamiliar edge to it.

We backtracked, riding down the road into town slower this time. Pacifica squinted, moving her head from side to side as she scanned the side of the road.

“Are you sure you guys didn’t land farther in the forest than you thought?”

I shook my head. “No, that monster was lying right in the middle of the road when we walked away from it. The car was in a ditch just to the side. I don’t see how we could have missed it.”

A few more minutes of silence, and then; “Maybe the cops found it? They picked up the car and took the monster in for analysis?”

This time, it was Wendy who refuted Pacifica’s claim. “The sun has been up for only an hour. You think the police were able to get that stuff out of here in the dark? Not to mention, they would have closed off this road, or waited by the Mystery Shack to get a statement from Dipper.” Wendy grimaced. “Something shitty is going on here.” 

“Wait!” I exclaimed, leaning forward and grabbing the red flannel of Wendy’s shoulder. “Stop the truck.” 

We piled out one by one: Wendy first, holding a shotgun casually at her hip. Next was Pacifica, looking nervous but confident with her handgun held out in front of her. And then it was my turn, barely strong enough to cradle a shotgun in my arms, tripping over my feet as I made my way over to the side of the road.

“Careful!” Pacifica glanced down at my gun. “Are you going to be able to carry that?” I looked down at the massive firearm in my arms.

“Yep!” I said cheerfully, trying to mask how much I was straining just to keep the gun pointed in the air. “Do you even know how to use that?”

In response, Pacifica rammed the slide of the pistol back, pushing a bullet into the chamber with a quick ‘click-click’.

“Great!” I said, and then under my breath, “Now two girls who can kick my ass.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing!”

We made our way over to a tree on the side of the road, where I pointed to a freshly made gash in the dark wood of the trunk. A gash that looked suspiciously like it was made with the front fender of a car.

“Well, now we know we weren’t having a shared hallucination,” Wendy muttered. “But the car’s gone and the monster’s gone. Hell, even the bloodstains in the dirt are gone.”

“I remember Grunkle Ford telling me about a time when a giant hand reached out of the forest, smashed his car, and dragged it back in before Grunkle Ford could blink,” I said. “Do you think it could be something like that?”

“That still doesn’t explain how they cleaned up buckets of blood off the ground.”

I groaned and stared out into the dark, looming trees of Gravity Falls. “I’m in over my head.”

We made our way back to the Mystery Shack, where we unpacked our various weaponry and then holed up inside the house, peeking outside towards the forest every so often. For the most part, everything seemed completely normal. Bird song drifted through the air, the house creaked and moaned, and the sun rays danced in the cool summer air. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. 

As the day went on, we started letting our guard down. We sat around and talked for hours, reminiscing and laughing about what things we all have done since we’d seen each other last. Eventually, I found myself splayed out on the couch, with Wendy lounging on the floor and Pacifica laying in the chair in front of the TV.

“And so Mabel ditches me all summer, to go to Europe with her girlfriend.” I roll my eyes. “It kind of feels weird. I think this is actually the first summer we’ve spent apart.” 

“Damn. She’s going to Europe?” Wendy lets out a small laugh. “I guess it’s getting serious.”

“I guess so. I mean, I don’t have a problem with her branching out; not that she’s ever had a problem doing that. Plus, I like Sam. I think they’re good for eachother.” I sigh. “I bet she’s mad at me. I was supposed to call her last night, but I can not find any cell reception in this GODDAMN HOUSE!” I laughingly yelled the last part, my words echoing throughout the building. The only response I got was a couple creaks from the old wood.

“Why don’t you just use the landline?” Pacifica had one hand in a bag of chips and the other was holding the remote, flipping through network television. I had never seen her like this. She was so at ease, so unconcerned with class and status. It didn’t seem to bother her a bit that she was eating cheap, off-brand potato chips on a ratty chair in a dusty, broken down house. 

“The landline?” I stared at her dumbfounded. “There’s no landline here.”

She takes her eyes away from the television and stares at me. Her eyes sparkle with laughter as she points across the room to a table sitting against the opposite wall. “Then what’s that?”

Sure enough, there was an older landline phone sitting on the table, it’s wire hanging down plugged into the dirty wall.

“Well that’s… interesting,” I say sheepishly as Wendy bursts into laughter, rolling around on the floor. Pacifica smirks at me, and we hold eye contact for a second too long before her focus darts back to the TV.

“I’ll call her later,” I said. “Hand me another pitt cola.”

The night went by quickly, and I found myself yawning as the clock hand on the wall drifted closer to six. After a bit, Wendy stood up.

“As much as I’d like to stay and hang out, I have work tomorrow.” She glanced down at me. “Are you going to be okay?” 

In a flash, I remembered the events of last night that I had pushed out of my brain. “Uh… I don’t know. Do you think those things come out at night?”

“I can stay,” Pacifica offered. “I can sleep here, and we can watch each other’s backs in case they do show up again.” She looked up at Wendy. “You wouldn’t mind us keeping a few of those guns, would you?”

“Not at all.” Wendy smirked. “I guess that’s that.”

“That’s that.” Pacifica grinned.

I took a moment to recalibrate my brain, trying to figure out what just happened. “Wait… so is Pacifica…” 

Wendy turned her smirk towards me, and ran her fingers through her bright red hair. “Have fun you two!” before I knew it, the door was slamming shut behind her.


	6. Chapter 6

In the past twenty four hours, I had been chased by a bloodthirsty monster, crashed my car, watched the monster die, had a panic attack, and saw my childhood crush for the first time in almost a decade. Naturally, my mind was focused on Pacifica.

“So, what have you been up to for the past… seven years?” 

We were both on the floor now, the rough carpet scratching my legs as I leaned up against the wall across from Pacifica. The only light source in the room was a lamp that hung in the corner, and it would feel almost natural if not for the cache of loaded weapons lying on the coffee table. 

“Well,” I started, “I went to highschool, obviously. Got into Stanford, so I went south for college. I just graduated a few months ago. Majored in biology there.” I took another sip of my soda. “That’s pretty much it. I worked hard, most of my time was spent doing schoolwork.”

“Wow. Stanford, that’s really good.” She sounded incredulous. 

“What about you?”

“Pretty much the same thing. Went to University of Oregon, got a degree in journalism.”

“No shit. You want to be a writer?”

Pacifica leaned back on her arm, allowing the light to glimmer off of her blonde hair. “I think so. Journalism always interested me, but I never thought much of it. I guess when I went to college I realized how much my parents were just assholes. I thought I’d make some money on my own, you know?”

I nodded. “So you kept in touch with Mabel?”

Pacifica blushed. “A bit. I mean, we became friends towards the end of the summer. We would text every few months or so, just to check in.”

“Ah.” Being friends with Mabel is totally allowed! I didn’t know why I felt so betrayed. “So you just didn’t want to text me?” I cringed inwardly at the hurt I heard in my own voice.

Pacifica opened her mouth, and then closed it again. We sat in silence for a couple minutes.

“So uh… Where were you thinking of sleeping?” I asked.

“Oh!” She gives a nervous laugh. “I was thinking just the attic? You’re sleeping in one of the rooms downstairs, right? That way we’ll be close enough to hear each other if something happens but still… have some privacy.”

I blushed. I didn’t want to sleep in any of the rooms downstairs, but there was no way I was going to sleep in the same room as Pacifica. “I was sleeping in the attic, actually. It took me back. But yea, I can sleep downstairs for tonight. That works.” I gave a quick nod. I could tell from Pacifica’s conflicted expression that she didn’t want to intrude, but also didn’t want to sleep in Soos’s or Grunkle Stan’s room. “Really, it’s fine.”

“Alright, if you say so.”

“Do you want anything to eat?” I got up and started looking through the fridge. “I don’t have much, just some microwavable meals. I guess my habits from college stuck with me.”

“I don’t mind. Anything works for me.”

We ended up heating some macaroni and cheese, and then eating it on the rickety table in the kitchen. Next to the window, I felt more aware of the creeping darkness outside of the house, and kept glancing outside. My eyes slid across the border between the parking lot and the woods, searching for any sign of movement or red eyes. I thought I saw a flash of light out of the corner of my eyes a couple of times, but I chalked it up to my imagination. I hoped it was my imagination.

“Hey, I think I’m gonna call Mabel now. Can I get you anything?” Pacifica’s sparkling eyes looked worn and exhausted. 

“No, I’m good…” She stifled a yawn. “I think I’m going to get ready to go to bed.”

“Yeah, of course. Did you want any clothes to change into?” I shuffled my feet back and forth, having no idea what I was offering. “I have some extra if you want… only if you want, hehe.”

“That would… That would be nice.” She gave me a small grin. 

“My suitcase is in the attic, just take whatever you want.”

I watched her back as she sashayed away, throwing a wry smile over her shoulder as she climbed the creaky stairs. I shook my head as I made my way over to the landline, punching in Mabel’s number. She picked up on the first ring.

“Dipper! Hi!”

Her cheerful voice came over the crackly speaker in the phone, buzzing against my ear

“Hey, Mabel. Sorry I didn’t call last night, something came up. How’s Europe?”

“It’s awesome! We just got into France today. Sam and I are just getting settled into our hotel room. Say hi, Sam!” The soft alto of Mabel’s girlfriend’s voice faintly drifted into the microphone.  
“Hey Dipper! How’re you doing!”

“Pretty good, thanks for asking.” I mean, it wasn’t a lie. My stomach was still twisting from talking with Pacifica all night. I had debated about telling Mabel what happened last night, but decided against it. If she heard, she’ll catch the next flight into Portland and be back here by tomorrow evening. I don’t want to interrupt their trip, and hearing Mabel’s laughter only solidified my choice.   
“So? How’s Gravity Falls?”

I was only on the phone with her for an hour; which was pretty short by Mabel’s standards. I talked about seeing Wendy again, how similar the Mystery Shack look, all of the memories that came back to me. Eventually, Mabel said she had to go, and that she’d call me later this week. I agreed, and set the phone back down with a soft ‘click’.

I made my way up the stairs, knocking on the closed door at the top. The grainy, dark wood of the door made a dull ‘thwack’ against my knuckles. 

“You can come in.” Pacifica’s voice was muffled by the thick door, which I swung slowly open after hearing confirmation.

“Hey, I’m just here to get a change of clothes, then I’ll leave you alone.”

Pacifica was sitting on the bed where Mabel used to sleep, my suitcase open at her feet. In her hands she held my old hat that I got during my first stay in the Mystery Shack, the blue pine tree worn on the face of it.

“Why don’t you wear this anymore?” She asked softly.

“I don’t know.” I leaned down over my suitcase, searching for a short sleeve shirt I can wear to sleep. “I guess, too many memories. I stopped wearing it, afraid that I’ll break it, or mess it up.” I sighed. “Plus, I didn’t want to wake up every morning and be reminded of my time here.” I looked up at her, watching her mouth twist into a sorrowful line. “It was fun, but we also saw some messed up stuff. The things that we’ve been through… it kind of fucks with your head.” I abruptly stood up, taking with me a white t-shirt and some slippers. “It seemed so innocent at first. Then you go back to normal life, and start to forget what’s real and what’s your imagination.” I lowered my voice. “You start seeing things. Obsessing over every little detail, convinced there’s some conspiracy happening when there’s not.”

Pacifica nodded, like she was trying to understand. But I knew she didn’t.

“I’ll… uh… leave you be.” I started to make my way back down the stairs, until I paused in the doorway.

“Dipper?”

“Yes?”

“Do you want to talk about it? What… What happened this spring?”

I turned my head slightly, facing in her general direction but still avoiding eye contact.

“Not tonight.”

“That’s okay. Just know, I’m here for you. Alright?”

“Alright.”

The creaks as I shuffled down the stairs felt like the house was laughing at me. The walls remembering the late nights and quiet mornings I’d spend wide awake, too terrified to fall asleep and face my dreams. Too scared to look out the window and see what dark shapes awaited me in the forest. Fearful of the intense longing I felt, the curiosity rising up in my stomach like an animal, never satisfied until I understood everything that surrounded me. And the walls kept watching.

I fell asleep on the couch next to the coffee table, my eyes focused on the weapons lying there until I drifted off.


	7. Chapter 7

I woke with a gasp, my shirt soaked with sweat. My face was scratching against the rough surface of the carpet on top of the floor, and it took me a second to realize I was on the ground next to the couch. I became aware of a pounding crash as someone- or something- bounded down the steps. Still disoriented, I thrashed my arm around the coffee table until my hand met the cold grip of my revolver. I brought the gun up in front of me, my hands trembling in the dark as I pointed it to the stairway. A dark shape landed on the bottom landing with a crash and the lights overhead flashed on, blinding me. Once my eyes readjusted, I found myself staring down the barrel of a shotgun that Pacifica was wielding.

“Jesus fucking christ. Dipper, what happened? Where’s the monster?” She stopped pointing the firearm at me and lifted it up to sight in the rest of the room. I lowered my pistol, reeling from the adrenaline rush.

“What monster? I just woke up. What’s going on?” My panicked eyes flew around the room, my heart racing.

“You just woke up?” Pacifica looked at me incredulously. “I heard you yelling, and then a loud thunk. I grabbed the shotgun and came down here as fast as I could.” 

“Dammit.” I set the gun down shakily, and covered my face with my hands. “There’s no monster. I must have been doing that in my sleep. I fell off the couch.”

“Oh.” Pacifica lowered her shotgun. She stood for a minute, frantically looking around the room. With a sigh, she lowered herself to the ground and sat next to me on the floor. “Does that happen a lot?”

I shook my head. “Not that often, no. Only every couple months or so. I gave my roommates hell.” I gave a weak chuckle. “They never stuck around much.”

Pacifica didn’t seem convinced. Every few minutes she would glance up and out of the window, searching the grounds like I did earlier that evening. I checked the clock up on the wall. It was two in the morning.

“Listen, you should get some sleep. I’ll be fine.”

She looked at me. “Are you sure?”

“Not really. But I doubt you got a good night’s sleep last night either. You look exhausted.”

She didn’t respond, and I eventually fell asleep in a sitting position, my back resting up against the side of the couch. The last thing I heard when my eyes closed was the steady in and out of Pacifica’s soft breathing.

***One year ago***

The sky was flushed gray as I stood in an empty field of grass. Derelict structures stood in the distance, and my mind was foggy. I couldn’t remember how I got there. My eyes felt strained and exhausted, and the hair stood up on the back of my neck, as if I was being watched.

“Hey Pine Tree! It’s been awhile.”

The familiar voice sent chills down my spine as I whirled around. There was nothing around me but grass and a soft breeze.

“What do you want?” My voice sounded pitiful in the silence that engulfed me.

“Just to have a little chat. It’s been a while since we’ve caught up.”

A dark figure rose out of the ground in front of me; not taking up any form, just a mass of black matter. It oozed off of the figure like sludge. “Admit it, you missed me.”

“Where am I?”

“Oh, everywhere and nowhere. The usual.” The psychotic chorus of Bill’s voice drilled into my brain, it’s playfulness filling my skull with agony. “You know, I’ve been watching you. I’m a lot closer than you think.”

The darkness started to drip off of his form like water, revealing the figure underneath. My roommate at the time, Erin, stood staring at me with a wicked grin, eyes glowing a bright shade of yellow. His black hair was cut close to his head, and the muscles that were formed from hours spent swimming bulged from underneath his white t-shirt.

We shared the cost of the small apartment with another friend of ours, Wylan, and had been living together for a few months now. I remembered Erin being secluded and quiet, but nice and funny if you were able to gain his trust.

That was not the Erin that stood in front of me then. His mannerisms were different, acting with the sickly charismatic charm Bill used. And his eyes. His glowing, yellow eyes, boring deep into my own.

He took a step toward me. I was frozen in place. I couldn’t run or scream out for help. I was petrified.

“You really didn’t think I’d let you get away after all of the hurt you caused? That I’d let you live after royally fucking up my plans?” Erin… no, Bill let out a sick laugh. “No, Pine Tree. I’ve been biding my time, making deals. Waiting for the right time to strike.” He held his hands up, and I could see his hands dripping with blood. Red droplets glistened against his skin, pooling in a puddle around his feet. “Waiting for when you’re most vulnerable.” The wicked smirk that formed across his face sent a bolt of fear straight into my heart. “Waiting until you’re ASLEEP!”

I awoke drenched in my own sweat to Erin’s face staring down at me. He looked concerned, and I could vaguely make out the words he was saying to me. “Dipper! Are you okay? You were thrashing around, and screaming, I didn’t know what to do!”

“Get off of me.” I growled. 

“What?”

“Get the FUCK off of me!”

I slammed my palms into his chest, sending him reeling backwards. In the dim light of the apartment, I could see the fear in his face as I rose out of bed, throwing the covers onto the floor in front of me. But I know it was just an act. Bill was in there, somewhere, controlling him. Erin’s eyes glowed a deep yellow.

Keeping one eye on Erin, I yanked clothes out of the bottom drawer of my dresser, slamming it closed after my hands had curled around the smooth wood of my revolver. The paintings on the wall quivered with the action, smacking up against the gray plaster wall. I brought the gun up to eye level, staring directly into Erin.

“Get out of my head.”

“Dipper, I don’t know what you’re-”

“Don’t fuck around, Bill. I know you’re in there. I can see the eyes, Bill.” I let out a cackle. “You forgot about the goddamn eyes!” I knew he’d come for me eventually. He would make a deal with someone close to me, take over their body. Then he would kill me. I could feel my heart beating like a bass drum in my chest, frantic and loud.

“Dipper, don’t do this. You’re sick, we can-” His voice cut off, and his eyes darted from my face to something behind me. His yellow eyes. 

I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head, and everything went dark.

***Present***

Sunlight filtered through the window and rested on my face, gently warming my skin until my eyes fluttered open. My back cramped as I readjusted my sitting position, bringing one arm up to my face to rub the remnants of sleep out of my eyes. I yawned and looked down to find Pacifica’s head resting on my shoulder. She must have fallen asleep sitting next to me too.

“Huh.” I muttered. I gently lifted her head from my shoulder to the rough cloth of the couch, careful not to wake her. My head was still reeling from last night’s nightmare. Try as I might, I couldn’t remember what I dreamt about. 

My bare feet tiptoed to the kitchen as I started to make myself some coffee. Birdsong drifted through the air, and the summer day outside was beautiful. Not a cloud was in view as I surveyed the scene through the window. I found myself walking in the other room and glancing down at Pacifica while she snored on through the morning. I couldn’t help smiling. I couldn’t help a lot of things when I was around her.

After a minute, I made my way back into the kitchen, pouring myself a bowl of cereal. I walked to the other side of the house, to the window that looked out onto the parking lot. It occurred to me that Wendy had driven into town for work, and that Pacifica and I didn’t have a ride to get back. I imagined having to spend the day with Pacifica, waiting until Wendy came later that evening, and grinned to myself. Things weren’t looking so bad after all.

I spent the rest of the morning writing down everything that occurred during the past 36 hours. The confrontation with the monster, the disappearance of the body, and theories on what actually occurred. The glowing eyes could have indicated a possession, or that could have been a trait that’s normal for the creature. The monster could have been sick, or hurt, and that’s why it was so aggressive; or that could be its regular attitude. The problem is, I had no idea what was normal or what wasn’t.

The body of the monster resembled that of a bear. The spikes that ran across its spine were as white as bone, protruding half a foot away from its body. The claws that were on its massive paw looked to be about three inches long. It was hard to tell from the dark pictures, but the blood seemed to be a much darker hue than that of a human.

Pacifica was still asleep when I walked outside a few hours later, gun in hand. The grass was laced with dew as I trudged to the porch, plopping down on the hard surface of the bench that resided there. The trees danced in the morning breeze, occasionally letting a leaf detach from the branches and fall slowly down to the forest floor. I leaned my head against the side of the Mystery Shack, closing my eyes while basking in the warm glow of the sun. 

My ears twitched when I heard a branch crack in the edge of the forest. My eyes snapped open and darted to the source of the sound. “Who’s there?” I questioned, searching for any sign of motion. I could barely make out the shape of two figures darting back into the woods, more branches snapping under their feet as they ran into the brush.


	8. Chapter 8

I considered running after the figures, but quickly dismissed the idea. I couldn’t make out who they were, and I had a feeling that the forest surrounding Gravity Falls was a lot more dangerous than it was eight years ago. I still stepped out into the parking lot, pointing my weapon towards the forest. I stood there for a while, peering into the trees, searching for any more danger to rear its head. The more I thought about it, the more I came to the realization that I must have imagined the shadows. What would two people be doing out there in the forest, especially at this time of day? Why would they run away from me? I was able to convince myself that the hallucination was a result of my sleep deprived, adrenaline filled mind, and went back inside.

Wendy’s truck pulled up to the Mystery Shack at four in the afternoon, tires crunching in the dirt. I had fallen asleep not long after I’d gone back into the house, still exhausted after two nights of little sleep. I woke up to the low murmur of Pacifica and Wendy talking in the kitchen. I struggled to pull myself upright, still feeling weary from the midday rest. I stumbled into the kitchen to see Wendy leaning against the counter, fiddling with a shotgun while Pacifica sat at the dining table. 

“Hey,” I muttered drowsily. 

“Sleep well?” Wendy asked.

“Nope.”

“Pacifica says you guys didn’t have any problems with the creatures?”

“Thankfully.”

“Wish I could say the same for us.”

My eyes went wide at that. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Wendy cracked open a beer can and brought the opening up to her lips, taking a big gulp. It was then I realized how exhausted she looked; even more so than me and Pacifica.

“Couple of kids went missing last night. The town’s in an uproar. Normally it wouldn’t be that big a deal. Kids run off for a day, get drunk or high and crash at a friends place all of the time.” Wendy took another sip of her beer. “This time, this guy was walking home late at night from a bar or something. He heard screams on the edge of town and went to investigate. Found a trail of blood leading into the forest, and more screams coming from inside. The police came then, blocked off the area, and began assembling a search party to see what happened. They didn’t find shit.”

Pacifica nodded. “The police came by earlier, asking some questions about what we’d seen. I told them we didn’t see anything. I’m surprised they didn’t ask me to wake you, but they seemed to be in a rush.”

“Jesus.” I sat down next to Pacifica, my mind wandering back to the two figures I saw this morning. “You said there were two people that went missing?”

“Yea, a couple of teenagers. They were the only ones that weren’t accounted for. Actually, one of them worked at the diner that we met at the other day. Dawn. And this other guy, Quinn.”

My mind wandered back to the diner: Dawn’s quick glances and smiles, her flirty “Well, if you ever get bored up in that house all alone, maybe we can hang out sometime”.

“I… might have seen them this morning.”

“What!” Wendy and Pacifica shouted in unison.

I quickly explained the figures that I saw in the woods. We all sat in silence, trying to figure out what that meant. 

“They were running?” Pacifica asked. “That means they couldn’t have been too hurt, right?”

“Yea, but why would they run away from me? If you were in the forest, presumably being chased by a bloodthirsty creature, why would you run away from the first sign of civilization you saw? Especially if it was someone that you’d seen before? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“We’re not sure it’s the same creature, or even related.”

“Shit.” I buried my face in my hands. “Something is definitely wrong here.” 

The walls of the kitchen felt like they were closing in on me. There was so much I didn’t know, and people were getting hurt. “We need to go in there, don’t we.”

Wendy nodded. “I think we do.”

When we stepped into the woods, it felt like we were in a different world. The lush canopies of the trees doused the forest with shadows, and unique flora was scattered around the lush landscape. Wendy was in front of me, her red hair covered by a baseball cap. The rough fabric of a hunting backpack hung from her shoulders, filled with various sharp objects and first aid supplies. The barrel of her shotgun gleamed out in front of her when it caught patches of light as she crept through the dense brush. Behind me, Pacifica’s knuckles were white around the grip of her hunting rifle. She caught my eye when I glanced over my shoulder and gave me a tight grin.

I was in the middle. My shotgun was slung over my shoulder where it banged against a similar pack that I had on. The revolver was tucked into the back waistband of my jeans, and in my hands I held a camera and a map. Both of these I had found scattered around the Mystery Shack: the camera was almost an antique, but functioned and took high quality pictures. The map of the forest was one of the few things Grunkle Ford had left behind when he went on the trip with Grunkle Stan. While not incredibly detailed, it did give us a general idea of the landscape that we were traversing, and what parts of the forest were best to be avoided.

We went in slow at first, keeping our heads on a swivel, glaring at anything that moved. The edges of the forest didn’t have much of interest, but the further we ventured in, the more weird things became. Tree trunks littered the ground, gouged and pummeled. Gnomes would peek their heads out of the leaves, then duck back down again at the sight of our weaponry. The crackling of our feet against the ground warned anyone- or anything- nearby that we were approaching. 

After an adrenaline filled 30 minutes, we came upon a clearing. The trees formed a wide circle around a field of grass, full of life and flowers. The sunlight shone unfiltered, blinding us as we stepped out of the treeline. Birds flew in the air and squirrels jumped from tree to tree, skittering in the cool breeze of the day. But none of us were focused on the beauty that surrounded us.

In the center of the clearing was a mass of energy that hovered a couple feet above the ground. It pulsated with purple and orange light, like a heartbeat. Waves of energy spread off of the ball, and the clearing was filled with a low hum of power. My brain did mental gymnastics as it realized what the energy was in front of us.

It was a gate into the weirdness dimension.


	9. Chapter 9

The Mystery Shack brought a comfort it never had before when we returned from the trip. I sat on the porch, heaving in gulps of air from the sprint back. We had run as fast as our legs could carry us, throwing away the caution we had clung to on the way into the forest. Blood trickled down my leg from when I fell over and scraped the skin off of my knee, but I didn’t feel the pain. The only thing I felt was the soul-sucking panic that held my brain hostage, not allowing coherent thoughts.

We all knew what the rift meant without talking about it. The catastrophic event of the last time the gate flew above the town of Gravity Falls was forever burned into my psyche. We weren’t prepared for something like that to happen again. 

The first thing I did when I went back inside the Shack was to walk over to the case of beer Wendy had brought this morning. I snatched up one of four bottles that were left in the cardboard box and, with the help of the bottle opener next to the box, snapped the cap off of it with an angry flick of the wrist.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea.” Wendy stood in the doorway, not trying to hide the fear that was spread across her face. I couldn’t tell if it was directed towards me or the discovery we just made in the woods. Probably both.

“You don’t say.” The taste of alcohol trickling down my throat didn’t do much to cure the anxiety that consumed my being, but the significance of the action was not lost on me. Three months of sobriety ended that very second.

“There are still people stuck in there. We need to find them, right?” Pacifica asked, concern filling her eyes.

“Not anymore,” Wendy said sullenly. “We have a different set of priorities now.”

“Why? Aren’t we responsib-”

“We aren’t responsible for shit. We don’t have time to comb the whole forest looking for some damn kids. We need to figure out what we’re going to do with the gate.” Wendy joined me at the kitchen counter, picking up a beer of her own. “It’s obvious that’s the source of this. We need to stop it, so nobody else gets hurt.”

I jumped into the conversation. “I agree, but we don’t know what caused the rift to form in the first place. To be honest, it scares me that this all started happening when I got here. There could be a connection.”

“What kind of connection? You didn’t step foot into that forest until today.”

“I don’t know, I just have this feeling tha-”

“GUYS!” Pacifica yelled, interrupting me. Wendy and I both turned to face her. “There are kids in the forest who are in danger. We do have a responsibility. We are the only ones who know what actually happened.”

I slammed my hand down on the counter. “No, we don’t. We have no idea what happened; that’s the problem. They could be dead for all we know.”

“I can’t believe you.” She pointed an accusatory finger at me as tears welled up in her eyes. “You know we need to help them.”

“We can help them by shutting down the rift!”

“And if one of those… monsters is after them? What if it finds them and kills them before you close the gate? You would have done nothing!” 

“We would have saved the rest of the town by closing the gate! We aren’t kids anymore, Pacifica! Life isn’t black and white. Sometimes you need to make hard decisions when you don’t have all of the facts.” I stook a step toward her. “You need to look at what you know, and make a scientific decision! The one that will save the most lives.” 

Pacifica moved towards the door. “If you aren’t going to do anything about it, I need to tell people. Warn them about what’s going on.”

“No!” I yelled. “The more people that get involved, the harder it will be for us to close the gate, and the more people will get hurt!”

Images flashed through my mind. Bill in the body of my roommate, blood dripping from his hands. The multicolored gate eight years ago suspended in the red sky. Mabel’s worried face as she talks to me from the side of my hospital bed. The fear in Erin’s eyes; his wide, blue eyes as I held him at gunpoint in our own home. Blood dripping from my arms as I cried on the floor of my bathroom. 

“Dipper…” Wendy cautioned. 

I dropped the bottle I was holding onto the tiled floor of the kitchen. It shattered on impact, sending shards of brown glass flying across the ground. “Pacifica, I can’t go through another apocalypse. I can’t do that again.” Tears fell from my cheeks now, mixing with the beer around my feet.

“Please.”

I had not ventured into the laboratory under the Mystery Shack since I had arrived, mostly because I didn’t want to face all of the weirdness that had occurred eight summers ago. The entrance was still behind the vending machine in the giftshop, and the only light source was a lantern I had to carry down a dark, winding staircase. The dust was so thick that I could taste it in the air, and the musty underground had a tangible odor. 

Grunkle Ford had cleaned out the area once he and Grunkle Stan took their trip around the world, leaving only the gadgets behind that were specific to Gravity Falls in nature. Luckily, it was these objects that I was looking for then.

I had grabbed another beer from the case on my way down here, and was surprised at the lack of liquid it held as I reached the bottom of the staircase. I finished it off while I was rummaging through the various cabinets and storage units that populated the dark lab. 

After my tirade, Pacifica had gone out to the front porch to think, rushing out the door in a huff. Wendy spent a while making sure I was okay, and with a concerned look at another beer in my hands, walked out of the room to talk to Pacifica. I sat down at the kitchen table and started to brainstorm a way to close the gate.

I mean, it’s not like we can save those kids, I told myself. We don’t have enough time. It seems that the events are escalating, and we need to stop the source; not the effects. This is logical. But another part of my brain hissed back menacingly; is it? Is the only reason I want to close the gate just so I don’t have to experience the end of the world again? The possibility that I might see Bill again? The prospect of saving the town is only secondary to my fear of what could happen to ME. Those kids need me, and I’m doing nothing. 

“Ah ha!” my hands close around the snowglobe-like contraption that was haphazardly thrown in a corner. Grunkle Ford had constructed multiple gadgets like these that could contain a rift from another dimension if the danger happened again. The only problem was… I had no idea how to use it.

When I went back up to the Mystery Shack, it was dark outside. I spent the last few hours underground pouring over old notes that got left behind, lamplight flickering over the pages. Reading Grunkle Ford’s distinct handwriting reminded me of similar nights, hidden under my sheets with a flashlight, combing over journal entries he had made all of those years ago. I had hoped that I could find some sort of instructions for the operation to contain the gate energy, but to no avail.

Wendy was sitting at the kitchen table, staring vacantly across the room. The circles under her eyes looked more pronounced than ever as her arms rested limply against the dirty table.

“Hey, where’s Pacifica? I want to talk about what I said earlier. I think I was a little harsh. We’re all pretty stressed out right now; I just want us all to be safe.”

Wendy looked up at me, and her expression of pure panic frightened me. 

“Wendy? What happened.”

“She went off into the woods, dude. To look for those kids.”

“What?!”

I leapt over to the nearby window, my eyes scanning the line where the parking lot meets the forest. I couldn’t see any movement. Just the looming trees and the darkness, blocking any visibility I could have hoped for in the night.

“Shit.”


	10. Chapter 10

“Why didn’t you stop her!” I yelled. “We don’t know what’s out there! A couple of teenagers got dragged in there, leaving nothing but a blood trail! For fucks sake, Wendy!”

“I… I don’t know. She wanted to help, I could tell there wasn’t any reasoning with her so I le-”

“Let her go?!” My voice cracked under the strain I was putting on my vocal chords. The Mystery Shack creaked and moaned to the volume of my voice. “She’s going to be killed!”

“We don’t know that.”

“Yes we do. Fuck!”

“Maybe she thought this would get your attention.”

“My attention? She had my attention! I just didn’t agree with her. God, she hasn’t changed one bit. She can’t stand it if she doesn’t get her way. She’s still that pretentious little-”

“Dipper!” Now Wendy was yelling. “This isn’t about someone getting their way. People’s lives are on the line! Now we have three people out there in the woods with god knows what else.”

“Yeah, because you let her go!”

Wendy put her head in her hands, not responding. I let out a deep breath. 

“Alright, you’re right. We shouldn’t be arguing. That’s just what he wants. We need to stick together, find Pacifica, and close the gate.”

“Who’s he?”  
“What?”

“You said ‘that’s just what he wants’. Who’s he?”

I opened my mouth, thinking of a proper response, then closed it again. 

“Let’s just go.”

The forest was worse in the night. The white beams of light from our flashlights created moving shadows across the ground, and ambiguous noises resounded from tree to tree. The crunch of my shoes on the branches under my feet made me flinch with every step. I silently cursed Pacifica for forcing me to look for her and the other kids. If only she had stayed put.

Bill was behind this, I was certain of it. The gate to the weirdness dimension only confirmed my suspicions. In the back of my mind, I started to wonder if my friends were part of this too. I glanced to my right to see the silhouette of Wendy moving stealthily between trees, the shadow of her shotgun held out in front of her. If Wendy is being controlled by Bill, that could have been why she let Pacifica go. She was acting really weird about the whole thing…

No. I would know if Bill was controlling Wendy. Right? My mind immediately went to Pacifica. If she was being controlled, that was why she ran off into the forest. She wouldn’t leave me on her own accord. I was sure of it. 

Or Bill could be dead, and Pacifica wanted to save those kids. Maybe I’m just making things up again.

A low growl emanated from nearby, interrupting my thoughts. I whirled towards the sound, frantically waving my shotgun in the air. Wendy raised her weapon behind me, trying to pinpoint the origin of the sound. 

The sound came again, louder this time. The white circle of my flashlight bounced from tree to tree. 

“Where is it?” Wendy hissed.

With a loud rumble and a crash, a beast rose up from the ground a few feet from us, red eyes glinting in the dark.

“Shit!”

Wendy’s flashlight fell onto the enormous form of a monster, similar to the one we had seen a couple nights ago. This one had white fur and was slightly smaller, but looked just as dangerous. Wendy clenched her hand around the pump of the shotgun and her flashlight with a single grip, allowing her to actually see what she was aiming at. With a soft click, she flicked the safety off and squeezed the trigger.

The shotgun went off with a loud boom, much louder than the crack of my revolver. Blood sprayed as the shot clipped the creature’s shoulder, coating nearby trees in a soft, red mist. Wendy cocked back the pump, a shell ejecting from the side of the gun and landing on the dirt, smoke rising from it’s charred tip. 

I brought up a gun of my own, flipping the safety off like I saw Wendy do and pulled the trigger. My ears rang with the loud noise and gunsmoke filled my nostrils as I was caught off balance by the recoil of the gun, my shoulder protesting with the force that the stock of the gun drove into my body.

Bang! 

Bang!

Wendy emptied her gun onto the monster, the beast falling to the ground with a thump as two more shells dropped down beside it. She reached in her pocket for another one, loading it into the gun and pumped it back. She walked cautiously over to the monster and unloaded the shot into its head, punching a hole into its skull. I was caught off guard by the gore and brutality of the action. 

She sighed and reloaded her shotgun, grimacing at the blood spray that coated her jeans.

“That’s going to be a pain in the ass to get out.”

I found myself wondering why someone could be so smooth but so terrifying at the same time. The fear that consumed me didn’t allow me to laugh at the comment, but I offered up a wan smile as we ventured farther into the dark.

We made our way to the clearing with the gate in the center. It was the first place we thought to check, and figured we’d look around for clues about Pacifica’s location. The glowing mass of energy lit the clearing with an ethereal glow, casting colors across the grass. I found myself transfixed with the cold beauty the rift contained. 

“Dipper.” Wendy’s voice seemed to reach out to me from far away. “We need to stay focused.”

As soon as she finished her sentence, something changed. The rift morphed, crackling with electricity as the energy orb began to move, sending hues ricocheting off the tree trunks like a disco ball. The steady hum that filled the air began to rise in pitch, and the energy began to twirl faster. 

“What’s happening?” I whispered.

The energy reached a crescendo, almost blinding us with its power. Then, as quick as it began, everything stopped. Next to the now still gate rested a monster that looked similar to the creatures that we had been fighting for the past two weeks. It let out a low roar, and then stomped off into the forest at the opposite end of the clearing.

“Well, now we know where they’re coming from,” I muttered. “We were right; the gate is the source.”

“We need to find a way to close that gate.”

I began to stand and make my way into the clearing when I sensed movement behind me. I leapt back into a crouch and slowly turned, raising my gun to the darkness behind me. 

“Pacifica?” I whispered. Suddenly, a figure came crashing through the brush, waving her hands in the air as she stumbled to a stop. 

“Don’t shoot!”

My flashlight illuminated the face of the intruder, but it wasn’t Pacifica. She was younger, and had close cropped brown hair. She was clutching a bloody wound in her side, and red liquid stood in stark contrast to her pale face as it ran down a small cut in her cheek. It was Dawn.


	11. Chapter 11

Right behind her came a taller boy, his calf tied in a splint. His hair was closely cropped, and his dark skin was splattered with blood, some of it a noticeably darker hue than what is normally human. The splint slowed him down and caused him to walk with a limp. I remembered that Wendy said his name was Quinn.

“Jesus,” Wendy spat. She immediately whipped out the enormous first aid kit from her pack and strode over to Dawn, who lifted her shirt, showing a puncture wound in her side.

“Wendy? What are you doing here?”

“It’s… a long story.”

In my pack, we had put water bottles and some snacks, which I passed to the two teens, keeping an eye on the gate resting in the middle of the clearing. Quinn gratefully took the water, lifting it up above his head and gulping it down. Dawn sipped hers slower, wincing in pain as Wendy dressed the wound in her side. 

“Did you guys see another girl out there? About my age, with long blonde hair?” I asked fervently.   
Dawn weakly shook her head. 

“No, we didn’t,” Quinn answered in a soft tenor. His voice was ragged and exhausted.

I glanced sidelong at Wendy, and I could tell we were both thinking the same thing. Neither Dawn or Quinn were in any condition to be running around in the dark tonight. We needed to get them medical attention.

“Dipper… We have low visibility, and we should get them back to the Mystery Shack. We’ll head out again in the morning.”

I knew she was right, but my stomach gave a frustrated ache at knowing Pacifica was still out there. Especially now that we had the things she was looking for.

“Shit. Alright, let’s go.”

Wendy had to basically carry Dawn back to the Shack. Quinn was able to move on his own, but it was slow going. I tripped over too many roots to count, and Wendy stumbled under the weight of Dawn’s limp body. Luckily for us, there weren’t any more of those monsters hanging around. We shuffled passed the treeline and onto the dirt parking lot, the blood that dripped off of us mixing into the ground. The door slammed open against the opposite wall as we barged into the Mystery Shack. Wendy set Dawn’s barely conscious body down on the couch in the living room, and Quinn rested on the floor next to her, massaging his splinted leg. Wendy checked Dawn’s bandages before rushing into the kitchen grabbing a few bags of more food and passing them out. Then, we plopped down on the ground next to the teenagers, entering into a period devoid of sounds except for our ragged breathing.

After I thought that Quinn had calmed down and rested, I asked softly; 

“Can you tell us what happened?”

He looked at me through bleary eyes, his mouth twisting into a grimace.

“Me and Dawn were hanging out with our friend Robbie, at a spot we normally hang out at by the end of the woods.”

“Robbie?” I interrupted. “Robbie Valentino?”

Quinn answered me with a nod of his head. “It was getting late, and I was getting ready to go when Robbie heard something in the woods. We started walking towards the noise, when…” Quinn shuddered. “A giant creature leaped out. It was so fast. It looked like a bear that had mutated or some shit. It grabbed a hold of my leg and started dragging me into the woods. Robbie ran up to it, but he…” Quinn paused, trying to compose himself. “The bear-thing stabbed him with his claws. He fell to the ground, bleeding out. Dawn ran after me, trying to help. The monster let go of me, god knows why. By the time he did that, we were deep into the forest. We’ve been trying to find our way out ever since then.”

I stood shocked at hearing the news of Robbie’s death. 

“Quinn, I’m so sorry.”

He nodded sullenly.

“If it’s okay, I have a question. Why did you guys run away from me when I saw you this morning?”

A wave of confusion washed over Quinn’s face. “What? I never saw you this morning.”

“Well, you were far away, so you might not have known it was me, but you came to the edge of the woods, right next to the Mystery Shack.”

Quinn shook his head. “No, we never saw any hint of civilization. We were stuck in the forest all day and night.”

It was my turn to look confused. I glanced over at Wendy, who had her chin in her hands, eyes narrowed, as if she was deep in thought. 

“Dipper, can I talk to you in the other room?” She said abruptly.

We both stood up, leaving Quinn staring forlornly into the distance as Dawn slipped into unconsciousness on the couch.

“Something isn’t right.” We stood in the kitchen, our whispered voices urgent and scared. The countertops glinted with the soft glow of the lightbulb that hung precariously above the kitchen table. 

“I know. It seems weird that they say that the never saw me, I could have sworn-”

“No, not that. Although that is weird, it isn’t the big thing.”

“What do you mean?”

Wendy glances into the living room, and lowers her voice even more.

“Everybody said only two people were missing. I didn’t hear anything about Robbie, or the police finding a body.”

“Maybe nobody noticed Robbie missing? The blood trail that led into the forest could have been his body being dragged back in.” I felt horrible about the apathy that laced my voice, but we needed to look at it objectively. I never liked Robbie, but that doesn’t mean I wanted him to die.

“When I was in town for work, I saw him walking down the street this morning. Way after Dawn and Quinn were taken.”

“Wait…” I stood shocked. “You saw him?”

“Yea, he was wearing the same stupid leather jacket he always does. He was walking into his job as a dj at the local radio station. I’m sure it was him.”

“Shit. But why would they lie?”

“I don’t know,” Wendy muttered.

“But something isn’t right.”


	12. Chapter 12

We sat back down across from Quinn, who was staring at Dawn's sleeping body. I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was morphing into an interrogation. I moved my revolver over so it was laying next to me, and I saw Wendy bring her shotgun so that it was only an arms reach away. 

“So Quinn,” Wendy said casually. “Did you notice anything weird, or off before the monster came?”

Quinn thought for a moment, taking his eyes away from Dawn. “No, I don’t think so… everything seemed completely normal. Robbie was acting a little weird though, a little… on edge.” 

The moon shone through the window behind me, basking the scene in a bone white glow, glinting off of our skin. Quinn seemed to notice the proximity of the firearms to our hands for the first time, and our tense postures, because he adopted a worried expression. “Hey, is there something wrong?”

“You could say that. Right, Pine Tree?” 

The voice came from me behind me, seductive and psychotic. The familiar tone of Bill’s voice made me jerk my head around, grabbing my revolver. The only thing that met my eyes was the bright light of the moon in the window behind me. 

“Dipper?” The concern was evident in Wendy’s voice. “Everything okay?”

*** Two years ago ***

“You need to tell me why.”  
It was a bright spring day, the kind of day where I would love to be outside. The sun glimmered off of the treetops, and the large oak trunks stood tall and mighty in the face of a slight breeze. I wished I was hiking somewhere, or writing in my notebook under the canopy of one of those oak trees. Not sitting here, talking with this shady drug dealer. But I knew that I needed to.

Mike was short and wiry, with eyes that had an odd glint in them, like at any moment he would leap out and slip a switchblade between your ribs; not unlike the glint I see whenever I look in the mirror. His voice was high and soft.

“I don’t need to tell you anything,” I responded. “I give you the money, and you get it for me.”

Mike shook his head. “This isn’t how this works. You aren’t asking me to get you some pot or molly. You’re asking me to bring a loaded weapon on campus and sell it to you. I want to know why.”

“Jesus, I’m not asking for an assault rifle. Just a small gun, like a pistol. Limited bullet capacity.”

“I need to know why.” He crossed his arms and looked at me stubbornly.

I rolled my eyes. “You won’t believe me.”

“Probably not.”

I sighed, fiddling with my hands in my lap, staring at the grassy field that spread out in front of us. The rough wood of the bench cut into my thighs as I bounced my knee up and down.

“I’ve been seeing things.” I paused, waiting for Mike to interrupt me. He didn’t. “Or maybe not… To be honest, I’m not sure if they’re real or not. I feel like I'm constantly being watched. I hear strange noises at night, voices during the day. I sometimes think someone else is in my dorm room with me, watching me while I sleep. I want the gun to defend myself if my feelings are real. If they aren’t, then… If things get too much, I want to have a way out.”

Mike let out a chuckle. “Jesus, I’m not your therapist.”

“You asked.”

“That I did.” He looked at me. “Make it three hundred, and you got yourself a deal.”

I thought about it. “You asked for two.”

He shrugged. “If I’m enabling a suicide, I want to be compensated.”

“I can’t believe you go here.”

“You’re not the only one.”

He stood up with a grunt, putting dark sunglasses over his eyes. “What’s it going to be?”

I sighed. “Alright.”

“I’ll have it for you by the end of the week.” He looked at me with a smirk. “And if any of that bullshit you just fed me was actually true, well… good luck, kid.”

*** Present ***

Quinn and Dawn stayed downstairs: Quinn sleeping on the ground, Dawn on the couch. Wendy was checking Dawn’s wound as I left the living room. I plopped down in Soos’s room, where Wendy was going to spend the night. I planned on crashing on the floor; I didn’t want to sleep alone. 

The room was small, but cozy. Various video games and manga filled bookshelves on the wall, and the walls were painted a dark, forest green. A desk sat in the corner that would have normally hosted a computer, but all that was left were wires and dust. Wendy walked into the room a few minutes later, propping a shotgun up next to the doorway. The light that hung from the ceiling sparked off of the cold metal of the barrel. Wendy threw herself onto the bed, burying her face into a pillow. 

“Hey,” She began. “I know these past few days have probably been tough for you.”

“They’ve been tough on all of us.”

“I know, but I just wanted to check in on you. You were really tense tonight.”

“I’m just worried about Pacifica. I feel horrible about yelling at her.”

Wendy nodded, knowing that there was more, but not prying.

We sat in silence after that. I went into the other room and grabbed a sleeping bag, spreading it out on the carpet of Soos’s room, which was thankfully softer than the one in the living room. I didn’t say anything as I shrugged off my flannel, acutely aware that this was the first time I had been in short sleeves in front of someone since the spring. I pointedly looked away from Wendy’s gaze, but I could feel her eyes on me. The bandages that wrapped my forearms were white and soft. I didn’t need to have them on anymore; it had become more of a comfort at this point. 

I considered unwrapping the bandages, then decided I wasn’t ready to do that. Not in front of another person. Doing that would make me feel like Wendy was seeing me naked, and I was not eager for that to happen. No matter what my twelve-year-old brain thought.

I trusted Wendy. We’ve been through so much together, there was just no point in ignoring it anymore.

She didn’t say anything about the bandages, just a soft “goodnight” as the lights went out. I snuggled up in the sleeping back, closing my eyes to the world, praying that it would be a peaceful night as I slipped into unconscious bliss.


	13. Chapter 13

It was still dark out when I woke up. I tiptoed past Wendy’s sleeping body and out into the kitchen, where I grabbed a shotgun laying on the kitchen table. Quinn and Dawn were sleeping soundly as I put on my pack, reaching for a flashlight as I slowly made my way out of the door. Crickets chirped in the early morning as I made my way off of the porch and onto the parking lot. 

I didn’t want to leave Quinn and Dawn alone in the Shack, which meant that Wendy and I would have had to stay behind. And I was not going to stay behind with Pacifica still in the forest. 

The moon had long been hidden behind clouds overhead, so the only lightsource was the flickering bulb of my flashlight and faint lamplight from the Mystery Shack behind me. I felt exposed out on my own, and vaguely wondered what the hell I was doing; marching into unknown territory, with a gun I barely know how to use and a mind that can’t trust its own senses. 

I pushed these objections down and snuck into the brush, the tree’s swallowing me whole as I entered the darkness.

I found myself in a void with a vague sensation that I was falling. All around me was pure nothingness as I felt the wind fold around my arms and push up my hair. The only thing I heard was the faint whistling of hair around my ears. I remembered a similar feeling when I was falling in the bottomless pit with Mabel, Soos, and Grunkle Stan, but this time I was alone.

I tried to recall where I was, and how I got here, but my mind was foggy and slow. I wasn’t wearing my backpack, and I felt a dull ache in my chest, like it was bruised. Something was horribly wrong, but in my sluggish brain I couldn’t tell what it was.

“Heyo, Pine Tree? You miss me?”  
The darkness was washed with faint yellow light as Bill appeared from nowhere, his 2-D pyramid shape acting like a beacon in the dark. 

“You know, it’s been awhile since we’ve had a real conversation! We never get to sit down and chat anymore.” 

Two tea cups appeared out of thin air, saucers spinning. “Go on, have a drink!”

I hesitantly took the teacup, feeling the cold ceramic in my hand. With a flick of my wrist, I sent it soaring right towards Bill’s eye. It phased right through him, and the cup flew off into nothingness. I thought I heard a distant tinkling as the cup crashed against a solid surface.

“Aww, don’t be like that. I know we’ve had our differences in the past, but I’m passed all of that! We can be friends again.” 

“Again? I was never your friend.”

Bill let out a multi-voiced sigh. “Listen kid, you have no idea what’s going on here. You’re going to need my help if you want to keep your friends alive.”

“I’m not falling for this again. I know it’s you. I saw the portal. I’ve beaten you once, I can beat you again.” I summoned up all of the confidence I could muster with the statement, but my voice still sounded pitiful in the black void.

Bill let out a crazed chuckle. “If you say so, Pine Tree. Listen, I have to go. Say hi to Pacifica for me!” He pointed a finger at me, his hand in the shape of again. “See you soon!”

I woke up to frantic gunshots. The dull ache in my chest became a sharp pain as I regained consciousness. I was staring up at the sky, the sun bright overhead. My head was pounding, and every time the gun rang out I winced. I tried to sit up, but my muscles weren’t responding. 

A roar echoed throughout the sky, and I felt the vibrations of a dull thunk as the gunshots stopped.

“Shit shit shit shit.” I hear a familiar voice and then some rustling behind me. A face appeared in my line of sight, silhouetted against the sun. 

“Pacifica?” My mouth felt like it was filled with cotton. I had to struggle to even get those syllables out. 

She was holding up bandages to my chest, and I could vaguely make out the tangy scent of blood in the air. 

“Hey, Dipper.” Her voice had the forced casualness of someone who is panicking. “Try not to talk, okay?”

I heard the crash of footsteps through the leaves to my right, and Pacifica’s eyes flitted, trying to figure out whether to keep putting pressure on my chest or grab her rifle. She opted for a compromise and took out her pistol from behind her belt, keeping one hand on my chest and the other aimed steadily out of my view. 

“Jesus christ.” Was that Wendy’s voice?

Pacifica put her gun down as Wendy kneeled down next to me. “We were out looking for him. I heard the gunshots.”

Pacifica nodded. “We need to get him back to the Mystery Shack. I don’t know if more of those monsters will come.” 

“Looks like you did a number on that one.”

“Do you think we can move him?”

I felt my brain collapsing in on itself. I was so tired, so sick of this pain that had begun to consume every fiber of my being. Unconsciousness beckoned, offering an escape. I gladly took it, once more fading into my dreams.

I was standing in my old apartment, the hardwood cold against my bare feet. Moving boxes were all around me, strewn across my floor and resting against the pale gray walls. I shuddered at the thought of being back in the cramped space that I loathed when I lived in it, but this time I knew it was only a dream. This time I was prepared.

I found Bill lounging on my old bed, which was nothing more than a pathetic bedframe and a stiff mattress at this point. He was in the body of my landlord; his hair was tied back in a ponytail, and he was wearing a tank-top. He was tall and spindly, and had his long arms folded in behind his head. His eyes glowed a neon yellow.

“You know, this was a pretty nice getup you had going here. If I were you, I would have stayed here.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Are you even real?”

“Jumping straight to the point, are we Pine Tree? Whatever happened to small-talk?”

“Answer the question. Is all of this just happening inside my head?”

“Those are two different questions. Why wouldn’t I be real?”

“You could just be a hallucination. We erased you when we erased Stan’s mind. You could just gone, erased from existence.”

“Right, but your dear old Stanley Pines regained his memory, correct? Proof that not everything that horrid little memory gun you use on is gone for good.”

I shook my head. “That may be true, but what about the weirdness bubble surrounding Gravity Falls? You can’t get into my dreams outside of that. Which means you had to just be a figment imagination when I was living in California. In this apartment.”

Bill laughed. “My my, we are grasping for straws here, aren’t we. No, I cannot physically exit Gravity Falls, that’s true. But why should that mean I can’t visit people in dreams? I’m a trans-dimensional demon, a ruler of worlds with power that you couldn’t even comprehend. You don’t think I can find a loophole or two?”

I growled in frustration. “Last time I saw you, you said ‘say hi to Pacifica for me’. You knew she was there before I did. That means you’re real.”

“You still don’t remember what happened, do you? You could have seen her before you got knocked unconscious. I could still just be just a hallucination, a projection of your mind.”

I seized a box and threw it at Bill. It was lighter than I expected and soared through the air, whistling towards Bill’s head. He raised one arm and batted it away as easily as one would shoo away a fly. 

“Now Pine Tree, don’t get violent. I know this apartment is an emotional place for you, but it’s important to stay calm.”

“Why won’t you tell me?”

“If I were real, well… I like messing with you. If I’m just a nightmare, why would I tell you that I’m not real?”

I was getting nowhere. I was hoping to get some answers, but Bill was so infuriating. I took a step towards him, but my shoe squeaked and slipped on something on the ground. I looked down to find a trail of blood splayed out on the wood floor, leading out into the bathroom of my apartment. Light spilled out from underneath the door of the bathroom, and the stench of blood filled my lungs.

“Ah… I see boxes aren’t the only thing you left behind in here,” Bill said with a laugh. “Want to check what’s in there?”

“No.”

“Oh, right. You already know. I must admit, I didn’t think I would cause you so much trouble that you would go and do THAT. Humans are far too fragile.”

“Fuck off.” 

Bill let out another psychotic laugh. “See you soon, Pine Tree.”


	14. Chapter 14

I emerged from my dream into a hazy cloud of pain. The scent of blood transitioned from my dream into my reality, and I wrinkled my nose at the smell. My head was pounding, so I reached my hand up to cup my head. I was met with a wave of pain in my chest. This time, it wasn’t overbearing, and I was able to move my arms. That was an improvement.

My eyelids slid open slowly, squinting in the light that shone from overhead. I was in the attic, lying in my old bed. I could make out the morning sun streaming through the window next to my prone body, and the light that was overhead flickered, the soft glow dancing across my face. I slowly started to sit up, leaning against the headboard, gritting my teeth against the pain. Bloody bandages were strewn across the floor, and a bowl of water sat next to my bed. My sheets were splattered and stained, and a blood trail not unlike the one I saw in my dream leading to the door of the attic, which was now closed. I took a deep breath and glanced down at my chest. The front of my flannel was opened, revealing a swath of bandages covering my entire torso, at least four layers thick. Pinpricks of blood were forming on the surface as my wound bled through. I probably shouldn’t be moving. It hurt whenever I took in a breath of air, and my whole body felt like it had been flattened and then blown back up like a balloon.

“Shit.” I muttered, leaning my head back and staring at the ceiling.

“Dipper?”

Through my fatigued thought process, I came to the realization that I was not alone in the room. I tilted my head to see Pacifica laying in the bed that Mabel used to sleep in. She raised her head slowly and looked at me through bleary eyes. She looked as if she’d stayed there all night.

“You’re awake!”

“So it seems.” I let out a cough that sent a bolt of agony through my bones. 

*** 11 months ago ***

The coffee shop was crowded, but Mabel and I were able to get a table in a cramped corner. The drone of conversation filled the small room as Mabel took a sip of her drink, wincing at the bitterness. She was never a coffee person, but indulged me when I suggested we meet up today.

“How are you doing?” She asked softly.

I shrugged. “I’m alright. I moved into my new apartment last week. I started my internship at the research lab on the coast a few days before that. It’s been nice, I guess. Stressful, but nice.”

Mabel nodded. “But how are YOU doing?”

“What do you mean?”

“How are you feeling about all of it? You still haven’t talked about why you moved out of your old place. I thought you liked your roommates.”

“I did like my roommates.” I paused. “I just wanted a place alone.”

I could tell Mabel didn’t believe me, but she didn’t push. I broke eye contact and stared at the white plastic of my cup, taking a sip. The hot beverage burned my tongue as I brought it up to my lips. 

“So, why did you want to meet up?”

I fiddled with my hands before meeting her gaze. I reached into the pocket of my green jacket and pulled out a white, unmarked envelope. 

“We’re both starting senior year, and… I don’t know, I have this weird premonition. That something bad will happen. It’s just a feeling, but just in case…” I handed the envelope over to her. “Read this if something happens to me.”

She took the envelope hesitantly. “Dipper, you’re scaring me. Are you sure you’re okay? What have you gotten yourself into?”

I gave a wan smile. “I’m fine, Mabel. It’s probably nothing.”

“Since when have you relied on your feelings, or your ‘premonitions’?

My shoulders twisted up in a halfhearted shrug.

She looked at me, a hint of anxiety flickering in her eyes. “Alright. I trust you. If you need something, call me, okay? Please.”

*** Present ***

The pain from the slow trip down the stairs lingered as I made the couch in the living room my new home. Pacifica had helped me down, one of my arms resting over her shoulders as she took the brunt of my weight. I collapsed onto the couch in a heap, noticing Wendy, Quinn, and Dawn sitting around the kitchen table, talking emphatically. When they heard my groans of misery, Wendy rushed into the living room, setting her mug of steaming coffee down on the table as she leaned down next to me.

“Hey, Dipper. How are you?”

“Shitty. What… what happened?”

Quinn and Dawn wandered in. It was good to see Dawn up and moving, even if it was slow. Every now and then she would wince and bring her hand up to her stomach, gripping at the wound in her side.

“How much do you remember?”

“I… I remember going into the forest, and waking up on the forest floor when Pacifica found me… you guys took me back to the Mystery Shack?” My chest protested as I spoke the longest sentence since I woke up.

Pacifica nodded. “I heard gunshots near me when I was out looking for them.” She nodded towards Dawn and Quinn. “I ran to the noise to find you shooting one of those monsters; much bigger than anyone we had seen before. It clawed you across your chest, and you went unconscious.”

Wendy took a sip of her coffee. “The good news is the wounds weren’t that deep, but when you get four gashes cut into your chest, you lose a lot of blood; no matter how deep they go. You’ll be woozy for a couple weeks, and it will hurt for longer. I think I did a decent job stitching up the cuts. So you’ll live, and have a few wicked cool scars as proof.”

As if I needed any more of those. 

When that thought crossed my mind, I realized that the bandages that once wrapped around my forearms weren’t there anymore. I was wearing long sleeves, so they were covered up, but someone had to remove the cloth. Oh god. Did Pacifica see them? I glanced over to her worried face, leaning over me next to the couch. The scratchy material of the couch rubbed against my feet as I started to panic. What does she think of me now? 

Wendy seemed to pick up on my distress, because her face paled as she realized how her comment could have come across. 

“Dipper, I didn't-”

“No, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it. I’m fine.”

“You sure?”  
I nodded. “I think I just need some space. I need to think, if that’s okay.”

Pacifica gave me a soft smile. “Of course.” She put a hand on my shoulder, and it lingered there for a few seconds before she walked out of the room, filing out behind the others. 

“If you need something, call me, okay?” Her eyes sparkled in the morning light. And no matter how much pain I was in, the only thing I cared about was that sparkle in her eye.


	15. Chapter 15

We all sat in a circle on the floor of the living room, the sun suspended in the middle of the sky as I scribbled on a sheet of paper. The black ink of my pen rubbed off on the side of my hand as I tried to put all of my thoughts into a physical form. 

“Alright,” I started, “Here’s what we know. Four nights ago, Wendy and I were attacked by one of those monsters. The next night, Dawn and Quinn were taken into the forest. Next evening, Wendy, Pacifica and I explored the forest and found the gate. Pacifica went off on her own later that night.” Pacifica gave a sheepish grimace as my eyes flickered up to hers. “Wendy and I went to find her, but found Quinn and Dawn instead. The next morning, I went out to find Pacifica, where I was injured and knocked unconscious. You guys brought me back to the Mystery Shack; and here we are, a day later.” I sighed. 

“We know the monsters are coming through the gate; Wendy and I saw one of them appear. We also know that some sort of illusion is taking place to lure people in, because of what happened with Robbie and with the figures I saw in the morning.” I set down the piece of paper, and stared up at the curious faces pointed towards mine. “It isn’t that much of a stretch to assume that I was supposed to follow the figures, probably leading me to a trap.” My chest sent bolts of pain whenever I moved, even when I wrote. I tried to keep as still as possible as I continued.

“But there’s still a lot we don’t know. We don’t know how the gate reappeared, or why only those monsters are coming through. Are the illusions controlled by something? If so, what? Why now, after all of this time?”

We sat in silence. Nobody had any answers or insight. Frankly, all of the talking was making my head spin. 

“So… how do we figure those questions out? How do we get more information?” Wendy’s voice cut through the quiet, and everyone’s faces turned back to me. With a start, I realized they were looking to me for what to do. The idea of being the leader in this scenario frightened and confused me. 

“Umm… Well…” I tried to ignore the discomfort in my torso, bringing one hand up to put pressure on my wound. “We need to keep going out into the forest. Map out the areas, seeing if there are any other anomalies that could be affecting the world around us. I don’t think I’ll be much help out there, so I can work here in the Shack and try to figure out how to close the gate. Once we close it, hopefully everything will go back to normal.” I let out a smile that didn’t reach my eyes. “As normal as Gravity Falls can get, atleast.”

Pacifica, Wendy, and Quinn went back out into the forest, armed with various firearms, cameras, and writing utensils. The trees outside cast shadows across the floor of the Mystery Shack as I stared at the contraption Ford left behind, it’s black metallic base glinting on the coffee table. Dawn stayed behind with me, and she was resting in the kitchen, wincing every now and then from the slash in her side. The sound of the blaring ringtone of the landline ripped me from my thoughts. I limped over to the table in the corner, picking up the phone and holding it up to my ear, leaning up against the wall and sliding to the hardwood floor. 

“Hello?”

“Dipper! Hello from Italy!” Mabel’s sing-song voice reached my ears, her cheerfulness almost infectious. A small smile spread across my face.

“Hey. How’s it going?” 

“Oh, it’s just GORGEOUS here. We’re having so much fun! But I haven’t heard from you in a bit. I just wanted to check in, see how you’re doing?”

“I’m doing fine. I haven’t been up to much. There’s not really much to do here.” The blatant lie was almost humorous to me. What I wouldn’t give for boredom over the haze of pain where I now reside.

“Who’s that?” Dawn’s voice drifts from the kitchen. I put my hand over the receiver of the phone and called back,

“My sister. She likes to check in on me.” I uncover my hand, and Mabel’s voice takes on a different tone.

“Was that… a girl’s voice?” The matchmaker in Mabel reared its head as her words became filled with curiosity. “Maybe Gravity Falls isn’t as boring as you say it is?”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s not like that, Mabel. Don’t get all excited.”

“Oh, it’s too late for that. Tell me everything.”

“Don’t you have sights to see? Go hang out with your own girlfriend.”

“We’re just relaxing now. Plus, I’m sure Sam would love to hear about your sex life.”

“I’m good,” A distant voice came distorted through the phone. I let out a chuckle.

“She’s just a friend of Wendy’s. We’re just hanging out here right now.”

“Oh, Wendy’s there? Let me say hi!”

“Uh…” I looked frantically around the room, hoping an excuse would materialize in front of me. “She’s in the bathroom right now. I’ll let you know when she gets out.”

“Hmmm. Dipper, you’re acting weird. Are you sure everything is okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Don’t worry about-”

A loud crack echoed through the woods, rumbling through the air. The vibrations whistled around my head as another gunshot rang out. Then another. 

“Shit.”

“Dipper, what is that?”

Dawn rushed into the room, fumbling with the pistol in her hands.

“They’re at the edge of the forest.”

I reached a few feet and snatched my revolver off of the couch cushions, groaning at the agony that ripped across my body.

“What was that? What’s in the forest?” Mabel did nothing to conceal the panic in her voice, and I felt a shock of guilt at keeping her out of the loop, at having to hear her voice full of panic again.

“It’s uh…” Another gunshot rang out. “Just the tv, the volumes up really loud. I’m going to have to call you back.”

“But-” Her voice was cut off as I slammed the landline down, hanging up the phone. I stumbled towards the door to the porch, the wound in my chest protesting with every shaky step. I slammed the door open, Dawn close behind me as I raised my pistol to eye level.   
Wendy stumbled out of the forest, Quinn close behind her, remarkably fast despite his bad leg.   
Wendy was clutching a cut on her shoulder, blood trickling through her fingers. She whirled around, bringing the shotgun to her side and pinching it between her elbow and her hip. She fired the gun with one arm, stumbling back from the recoil as a pained growl shook the trees. Wendy dropped the shotgun, presumably empty, and ran up to the porch. Quinn shouldered his shotgun, pumping it with a click-click and a boom, fire spitting out of the barrel as the shot hit the monster still grumbling in the depths of the forest. 

“Gun, gun!” Wendy yelled. Dawn tossed her pistol to Wendy.

“Shit,” I muttered, but Wendy deftly caught the handgun and brought it around, squeezing the trigger fast and hard into the forest. Her wrist snapped back with the punch of the gun, and a deathrattle roar echoed and rattled the trees, leaves shaking with the volume. A loud thump followed, and everyone stopped shooting. Gunsmoke drifted across the parking lot. 

“Where’s Pacifica?” I yelled.

“She ran off in the other direction to distract it,” Quinn responded, his soft voice ragged and out of breath. “She should be back soon.”

We all waited for a minute, worry gnawing at my already pain-filled stomach. 

“Come on, come on,” I muttered, glancing in between trees for a glimpse of her. Finally, my eyes caught sight of shiny blonde hair running through the brush. “There she is!” I pointed.

Pacifica emerged from the treeline a little bruised, but overall unhurt. I would have leapt off the porch and hugged her if I didn’t fear I would fall unconscious from the pain. But just as my face split into a wide grin, it faltered when I caught a glimpse of something else moving towards us from the depths of the forest. Another girl pushed her way through the leaves, looking identical to the one who had emerged moments before. 

I thought I was hallucinating, but Dawn’s small gasp and Wendy’s quiet curses told me that I wasn’t alone. Quinn recoiled from the edge of the forest as the two Pacificas became aware of one another, their expressions morphing from confused and surprised to outright terror.

My bewildered voice broke the horrific silence. “What the hell?”


	16. Chapter 16

The sharp tang of vodka made me wince slightly as the clear liquid ran down my throat. It had been a while since I’d had straight vodka. I was lucky to find a half empty bottle resting in the backseat of Wendy’s car, and I intended to finish the rest before sunset.

The two Pacificas were sitting on the porch, arms crossed and both tapping their legs up and down. It was amazing how they had the exact same mannerisms. They both had a physical form, meaning they weren’t just illusions, and the fact that there were two of them meant that Pacifica wasn’t just being possessed. Their wounds were the same, their syntax was the same; it was remarkable. The scientist in me was giddy, excited at a new puzzle to solve and more things to learn. The rest of me needed a drink.

After my pain was dulled and thoughts were calmed, I stopped downing the bottle of vodka. I needed to focus, and wanted to be able to critically think. After I solved this I would get drunk, I promised to myself. 

Quinn and Dawn were fiddling nervously with their weapons, staring at the doppelgangers. For a second, I worried that they were imposters themselves, but stopped myself from going down that rabbit hole. One problem at a time. 

Wendy was sitting across from the two girls, her shotgun resting on her lap. She stared almost unblinkingly at the Pacificas, searching for any trait that would betray the imposter. Frankly, I was a little worried that neither were the real Pacifica. Whoever’s behind this could be sending two imposters to throw us off, or to lure us into a false sense of security once we confirm the “real” one. No, that doesn’t make any sense… what’s the point of making us suspicious in the first place? They could have only sent one. One of them has to be the real Pacifica.

I found myself remembering a similar circumstance, deep underground in the confines of an old lab that Grunkle Ford had built with the shapeshifter. I wondered if it was the shapeshifter that was acting like Pacifica. If it was, it should be simple to test.

The wood of the porch creaked under my feet as my shoes hit the hard surface. I sat down next to Wendy, keeping a hand on my revolver. Normally, I would take one of the girls away from the rest of the group and ask her questions separately, but I was worried about Wendy. She was the only person I knew wasn’t an imposter, and I was concerned that if I left her alone with Dawn, Quinn, and a Pacifica that could potentially be an imposter, she could get hurt. I sighed and focused my attention on the Pacifica to my left; Pacifica One. 

“8 years ago, what did I use to trap the ghost that was terrorizing your mansion?” I asked pointedly, not bothering with introductions or explanations. I was hoping my directness might catch the imposter off-guard.

“Uh… A mirror, wasn’t it? A silver mirror?” She looked fairly calm and composed. In fact, both of them did. They acted with the assuredness that they would be proven to be the “real” Pacifica.

I turned to Pacifica Two. “What did Mabel offer you in the backseat of our car when we drove home from the golf tournament we had together?” 

“A taco, I believe.”

This was going to get me nowhere. There were more questions I could ask, but there were probably people other than Pacifica who knew the answer to those questions, so it was possible the imposter could have gotten the information from somewhere else… but who?

I decided I had to act with the assumption that the imposter had Pacifica’s memories, which meant I had to try something else. I stood up abruptly, startling Wendy next to me with my quick movements. My body protested, but I spoke anyway. “Follow me.” 

I walked back into the shack, finding my way into Grunkle Ford’s old room where he kept the research equipment that wasn’t in the basement. The machine that I was looking for was still plugged in on the opposite wall, the matt gray of the helmet gleaming dully in the LED lights. The monitor that was mounted on the wall made a sharp hiss as I activated the machine.

“You’re being awfully calm about this,” Wendy muttered, keeping the two Pacificas her line of view as she leaned into my ear. 

“Am I?” I fiddled with some switches, getting the mind-reading machine activated while not making eye contact with Wendy.

“Are you sure you’re okay, dude? You’re acting weird. All, emotionless. The Dipper I knew would be losing his shit right about now.”

“I’m just trying to stay calm. Looking at this logically.” I looked up at her. “That’s a good thing. It helps us not die.”

She stared at me through narrowed eyes. “Okay, I trust you.”

She was right. I was acting weird. My movements were stiff, and my voice felt monotone. I know I should be panicking, but I just felt numb, and a vague sense of curiosity. It felt like I was waiting; like I was waiting for the emotions to hit. I read somewhere that sometimes people will get in a traumatic accident, like a bad car crash. They’ll walk away from it like they’re totally fine, but a week later, when they’re safe in their homes, they’ll have a severe panic attack. That’s what it felt like. 

The cold, calculated numbness that dwelled inside me scared me. The only thing that filled the void was the feeling of a cold, sharp knife that slipped into my chest every few seconds. The wound in my torso wasn’t handling the stress well.

I pointed to Pacifica One. “Put this on.”

“What… What is that?”

“Just put it on.”

She hesitated, then crossed her arms. “No.”

I felt Wendy’s movement shift as her fingers tightened around the grip of her shotgun. 

I turned to Pacifica Two. “Are you going to put this on?”

Pacifica Two glanced at Pacifica One, and nodded her head. “Yes, I will.”

My brain was racing. This was the first difference we’ve seen from the doppelgangers. The real Pacifica would have no reason to refuse to take the test. She would trust me to not do anything that would put her in danger, or if not me atleast Wendy. My hand felt around the smooth handle of my gun in the back waistband of my jeans.

The imposter Pacifica seemed to realize that I had come to this conclusion, and slowly started backing towards the door. 

“Dipper, you don’t know what you’re doing. It’s me.” She raised her hands slightly above her head. “You wouldn’t hurt me, would you?”

My brain kicked out of autopilot. She looked like Pacifica, she sounded like Pacifica, and no matter how logical I looked at the situation, the tremble in her voice and the fear in her eyes was real. I felt panic start to rise up in my stomach.

“Dipper, please.”

“Then put on the helmet.” Now the tremble was in my voice. I mentally kicked myself. I needed to pull myself together. 

“I can’t, Dipper. They did something to me, when I got lost in the forest. Please, you have to believe me.”

“Who did something to you? What did they do?”

“Dipper…” Wendy’s voice was tense. “She’s lying, you know it.”

I needed to think, but I couldn’t look at this rationally. My cool, scientific demeanor was gone and replaced by pure panic. I was staring at my friend pleading for her life, and that was all that mattered. I glanced at the second Pacifica, who was looking back and forth like she was watching a tennis match, worry flashing across her face.

“Listen, why don’t we just take the test. That will clear everything up.” She offered.

“No.” The first Pacifica responded. “You’re just saying that because you know what they’ll find in my head. I can’t take it.”  
“Pacifica, you need to.” Tears were starting to well up in my eyes. I wasn’t sure if they were because of my chest or because of the expression on the first Pacifica’s face.

“Pacifica? So you think she’s the real one?” The second twin adopted an expression filled with hurt and dismay. “Dipper, please.”

“It was a slip of the tongue. Listen, I don’t think anything. Everyone just needs to…”

“Calm down?” The first Pacifica in the doorway raised her voice, her arms trembling. “Dipper, I can’t stay calm. You have to believe me.”

“If you’re telling the truth, we’ll figure it out. I promise.” I felt like I was drowning again, but instead of water it was words that were piling up around me, filling my ears as agony wrenched through my body. 

“But she’s not, she’s lying!”

“Listen, if we just-”

My words were cut off by the sharp click-click of Wendy’s shotgun pump. “Wendy…”

It felt like my eardrums were going to explode from the sharp report of the gun. The flash of light that emanated from Wendy’s gun barrel left a smoking cloud as the Pacifica by the doorway dropped to the ground with a loud cry.

“Fuck!” I yelled. “Wendy, what-”

Then I noticed the wound. Wendy aimed for one of her legs, but instead of blood and shards of bone from the shot there was a mess of pale green goo. It was splattered across the floor and against the wall. I remembered a similar substance; the blood of the shapeshifter that Wendy and I fought eight summers ago.

The shapeshifter looked at the stump where it’s leg used to be, and let out a ravenous cackle.

“I almost had you guys.” Its voice was low and raspy, but it kept Pacifica’s face as it stared up at Wendy. “It was clever, with that mind-reading contraption you have there. I thought I could still convince you, even with me refusing to put that helmet on.” It let out a cough, and spasmed on the ground. “I had you, didn’t I?” It lifted a small hand to me, and I took an involuntary step back. It chuckled. “But you…” It turned its gaze to Wendy, still holding the steaming gun. “What tipped you off? How were you sure?”

Wendy slammed back the pump. “I wasn’t.”

She sent two more slugs blasting apart the shapeshifter’s body, both shots sending my mind into shock. The gooey remains of the monster lay in the doorway and out in the hall, and small holes were punched into the wood floor where Wendy’s shot had rammed through.

“Holy shit.” I muttered, and then yelled it. “HOLY SHIT, Wendy. What were you thinking?”

Wendy looked at me perplexed. “What?”

“What if that was the real Pacifica?”

“It wasn’t.”

“But what if it was?”

“Then we would deal with the wound if it was her!”

“You weren’t sure? You could have killed her!”

“But I didn’t!”

I put my head in my hands. Dawn and Quinn came rushing in, slipping a bit on the gore that coated the floor. “What happened? Is everyone okay?”

Pacifica stood in shock next to the wall, both of her hands covering her mouth. She stared at the green mess on the floor with horror, as if picturing her body strewn out in a similar fashion. I slammed the helmet back onto the table underneath the monitor, and strode out of the room, leaving a terrified Pacifica and an irritated Wendy behind.

“I need a fucking drink."


	17. Chapter 17

The door of the attic slammed at my touch. I finished off the last of the vodka bottle while clicking the lock on the door. I tossed the bottle on to the bed that Mabel used to sleep on, and plopped down on my own, burying my head into my hands. 

Quinn and Dawn were in the forest for a long time, and their whole disappearance seemed suspicious. The figures I saw that morning, and then them finding us in the woods… It was all too convenient. I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.

The Pacifica that was still alive could very well be an imposter. I revisited my early theory about two imposters. Now that I knew that one of the Pacifica’s was a shapeshifter, I needed to rearrange my original thoughts. The shapeshifter was an entity native to Gravity Falls, not the Weirdness Dimension. It was possible that the Pacifica downstairs was still an imposter, unrelated to the shapeshifter. 

And then there was Wendy. Something about her decisiveness and utter disregard for Pacifica’s safety worried me. It was as if she knew that the Pacifica she was shooting wasn’t the real one; or she didn’t care if she accidentally shot the real Pacifica.

I couldn’t trust anyone. 

I still held the revolver in my trembling hands. The chamber clicked open as I checked to make sure it was loaded, then double checked. The sweat from my palms made the handle slick underneath my flesh as I sucked an unsteady breath in. What do I do? I need to stay calm. Come up with a plan.

But my brain was fogging over, and I found it difficult to concentrate on one thing for a long period of time. Whenever my head moved, the room spun around me. I almost forgot about the pain in my chest, but now it was back in full force, contributing to the haze in my head.

The sun cast a shadow on the window frame, stretching across the floor. The outline of the black triangle seemed to move in my drunken stupor, steadily pulsating to a beat I couldn’t hear. It slowly rose off of the ground, morphing from black to a neon yellow, the circle in the middle forming an eye. A top hat appeared and settled on the top point of the pyramid.

“Looks like you’re running on fumes now, wouldn’t you say?” The multi-tone of Bill’s voice reverberated throughout the room, sending vibrations up my legs.

“What is that supposed to mean?” I spat out.

“Woah, no need to be so antagonistic. I’m just saying, you’re in a rough spot. Drunk, wounded, alone, locked in your precious Mystery Shack with four people who probably want to kill you…” His small form danced around my head, making me dizzy. “Not the best circumstances. Right, Pine Tree?”

I glared up at the glowing figure. “I can figure this out.”

Bill let out a laugh. “Kid, you really crack me up. You know as well as I do that there is no way out of this one, even at your best. And you just chugged half a bottle of shitty vodka.”

“Maybe they aren’t imposters. They can’t all be fake. The chances of that-”

“Fuck the chances. You’re reaching, bud. Quinn and Dawn were acting way too calm for a couple of teenagers, you know that. Pacifica purposefully went into the woods on her own, and Wendy’s been working in this goddamn forest for years. You really think all of this started just when you got here? For all you know, the whole town is against you.”

“Stop it.”

“Stop what? I’m just saying what you’re thinking. I can see inside your head, remember?” He taps his finger to my forehead, a sharp tingling sensation lingering where he touched my skin. “I’m just helping you see logically.”

“Get out of my head.”

“Make me.”

I stared into his one eye, the challenge in his voice unmistakable. I lifted the gun in my hands, holding it straight out in front of me and thumbing back the hammer with a click. The barrel was shakily aimed right into his bulging eye.

“You really think a bullet can kill me? Don’t play dumb. You already know what you have to do; those scars on your arm prove that. Come on, Pine Tree. What’s it going to be; do you really want to get rid of me? Are you all in?”

The last question hit my stomach like a sucker punch, and tears stained my cheeks as I remembered a similar night just a few months ago. As if with a mind of its own, my right hand raised the revolver up to my temple, pressing the cool metal into my skin like a brand. Bill let out demented laugh.

“Now we’re getting somewhere!”

A knock on the attic door startled me. I faintly heard Pacifica’s voice from the other side of the wood, concern lacing her voice. “Dipper? We’re all worried about you. Why don’t you come downstairs? We should talk.”

Bill continued as if he didn’t hear Pacifica’s frightened tone. “Humans are so fascinating. Us demons have one thing that drives us; our lust for power. To die, for a demon, is the worst fate that could befall us. No matter how much suffering we encounter, we never would choose to extinguish our power with death. But humans have a breaking point. There’s only so much you can endure until you snap; and death is suddenly the best option.”

I try to block out his voice, but I can’t. His words transcended auditory processing; I could feel his voice in my head. I let out a painful gasp. 

“So what happens?” I ask breathlessly.

“What do you mean?”

“If I pull the trigger. What happens to me? You’re a demon. What happens when I die?”

Pacifica’s voice came again. “Dipper? Who are you talking to?”

Bill pondered for a moment. “Well… your body will fall to the ground, brains splattered across this room you once cherished, and you will cease to exist.”

“Dipper?”

“Humans have this notion that something must happen when you die. That your energy, your… soul, has to go somewhere.”

“Dipper, you’re scaring me.”

“I’m sorry to say that you go nowhere. Your soul bleeds out, same as your body. Eventually, people will forget you ever existed, and your entire life will be compressed into one coroner’s report.”

Pacifica’s voice stopped. I heard motion on the other side of the door, and realized I didn’t have much time.

“Pretty depressing, isn’t it Pine Tree? But at least you won’t be suffering anymore.”

The breath released from my body as my finger curled around the trigger, smooth and deadly. I stared directly into Bill, floating around my head.

“Any last words, Pine Tree?”

I drew my mouth into a thin line. “No.”

Bill chuckled. “You know, that’s a shitty last-”

I pulled the trigger.

The gun bucked in my hand, surprising me with the recoil. The chamber spun around as I unloaded two more bullets into the wall in front of me, where Bill had once floated. Now, the dream demon was nowhere to be found. I let my arms drop to my side and fell to my knees when the door burst open, thrown off of it’s hinges with the force of Wendy’s kick. Pacifica rushed into the room and lunged at me. 

I winced for a second, waiting to feel the blade of a knife or a bullet rip through my body as imposters descended upon my flesh, but none came. Instead, Pacifica wrapped her arms around me, pulling me into her and burying my face into her shoulders. The gun slipped from my hand and clattered to the ground, filling the room with the sound of clanking metal and my choked sobs.


	18. Epilogue

It was like spring all over again. I couldn’t even make it four fucking months. 

The sun that was setting behind the trees blinded me as I sat down on the porch, the rough wood of the bench scraping against my skin. The cool breeze rolled across my arms as I stared vacantly out into the distance. 

Pacifica was sitting next to me, leaving a foot of space between us. The only sound that filled the silence was the shivering of the trees in the summer wind. We didn’t speak, just stared at the dying star.

My flannel was off, and the short sleeves that I wore did nothing to hide the myriad of scars that laced my forearms. I stared down at my arms with shame, and fought the urge to scream. The ring of skin where I had pressed the gun barrel to my temple was still cold, as if the metal had frozen the nerves in the area.

After a minute, the screen door opened with a creak. I turned my head slowly, not meeting Wendy’s gaze. A cigarette dangled from her mouth; I didn’t know she smoked. A transparent gray cloud exited her lips and floated across the parking lot, dissipating in the warm glow of dusk. The bags under her eyes and concern on her face was pronounced. I imagine I didn’t look much better. 

“Phone’s ringing,” She mumbled, avoiding eye contact as well. “I think it’s Mabel.”

I stumbled back into the Shack, cupping my head in my hands as I made my way through the kitchen and into the living room. Dawn and Quinn were wiping up the green gore that coated the hallway. Quinn looked at me with pity and gave me a small nod. Dawn’s eyes were filled with something that resembled fear as I gave a half-hearted wave when I picked up the phone. I guess she saw me as unstable. 

The incessant buzz stopped when I held the phone up to my ear. 

“Hello?”

Mabel’s worried voice came over the speaker.

“Dipper? Are you okay?”

A stab of fear went through my stomach.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” I panicked, thinking Wendy or Pacifica told her what happened. 

“You ended our last call weirdly. I wanted to make sure everything was okay.”

“Oh.” I sighed. “Where are you right now?”

“Still in Italy, now we’re in Venice. I’m worried about you.”

“I don’t want you to worry.”

“I don’t think you have any control over that.”

I sat down on the stuffy brown couch and leaned my head back, staring at the ceiling. “Everything is fine.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not.”

“Dipper, we’re twins. Special bond and all of that shit. Something is up. What happened?”

Her pleading voice filled me with guilt and longing. I wished I was back in California. I wished Mabel was here with me to help me through this. But I couldn’t tell her.

“Hey, I have some things I need to take care of,” I said in a fake cheery voice. “I’ll call you back, I promise.”

“Dipper, wai-”

I hung up the phone. 

Wendy was in the kitchen gazing out the window, taking a drag of a cigarette. The butt of another cigarette laid next to her on the counter, next to a pack and a lighter. 

“That was quick,” she remarked, not tearing her eyes from the impending night. 

“I wasn’t in the mood to talk.”

“She’s going to be worried.”

I laughed. “She would’ve been even more worried if I told her the truth.”

Wendy nodded, her face still sullen. We were dancing around the elephant in the room, I knew that. But I really didn’t want to confront it right now. 

“Let’s just…” I sighed. “Rest up. Recuperate a bit. Figure out what we are going to do next. I need to sort out some stuff before we deal with the gate. I think we all do.”

Wendy nodded. 

“Let’s just… make sure nobody else gets hurt.”

The sun had sunk behind the horizon by the time I made my way back to the bench. I sat back down, wincing slightly with the strain it placed on my body. I took a deep breath in, the scent of summer filling my lungs as I placed myself closer to Pacifica than before. Our knees brushed together, the rough denim of my jeans tracing lines against her skin.

I was not okay. The full weight of what had occurred was crashing down all around me. My hallucinations, my attempted suicide. The fact that my life almost ended at least twice in the past week. My breath was shaky and my hands were trembling. 

But sitting there, my leg touching Pacifica’s and the indigo sky framing my world, I felt a semblance of composure. I wasn’t perfect, but I felt a surge of peace, despite the wound in my chest and the monsters in the woods. We had a whole summer left to go, and so much had already gone completely wrong. Things can only get better from here. 

Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I hope you guys enjoyed my writing. I had a lot of fun with the story! I'm going to take a short break from writing this, and come back in a little bit with the second work in the series. For formatting and storyline purposes, I thought that creating a whole new work would be best. I'll do a short time skip and continue where the story left off. We'll be seeing some familiar faces in the second work, and they won't just be voices on a phone (I promise). There were obviously a lot of questions left unanswered, and I'm excited to come back to the world of Gravity Falls. Thanks for reading!


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